Temple Commercial Historic District

Downtown Temple, Texas, grew from a grid the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad surveyed in 1881, and this district preserves that original commercial center. About 23 blocks extend north from the tracks and hold 161 properties, most of them one- and two-part commercial block buildings with banks, shops, offices, warehouses, and government and religious buildings. Early brick storefronts from the 1880s and 1890s sit alongside Classical Revival buildings of the early twentieth century, the Beaux-Arts and Prairie School Santa Fe Depot of 1909-1911, the 1912 Renaissance Revival post office, and Art Deco landmarks such as the 1928 Municipal Building and the Kyle Hotel. Later Spanish Eclectic, Moderne and International Style buildings show the center's growth through the 1950s. Alterations, demolitions and parking lots have changed parts of the area, yet the shared setback, scale, massing and link to the railroad still mark it as the commercial and transportation core of Temple.