Nacogdoches Downtown Historic District

Downtown Nacogdoches, in east Texas about fifty miles from the Louisiana border, grew from an eighteenth-century Spanish military outpost on the El Camino Real. This district covers roughly nineteen blocks of the historic commercial core, arranged around the plaza principal and an irregular street grid inherited from the Spanish colonial era. It contains 134 resources, 94 of them contributing. Most are one- and two-part brick commercial buildings erected between 1890 and 1930, though the earliest building, the Durst-Taylor House, dates to 1835. Other resources include the 1917-18 Classical Revival post office and federal building, the Modernist Hotel Fredonia, a railroad depot, early gas stations and small concrete bridges. Architect Dietrich Rulfs brought a German brick-building tradition, while Creole influences also appear. Fires between 1903 and 1908 destroyed many buildings and led to a fire department. The district was recognized for its commercial development, architecture and planning, with a period of significance from 1835 to 1957.