Lumpkin Building
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Why it's listed
Standing on a corner lot just north of the Bosque County Courthouse in Meridian, this two-story limestone commercial building dates to 1901. It replaced an 1884 stone building put up by local resident J.M. Williams, which burned in a September 1901 fire that damaged nine other buildings on the courthouse square. Dr. J.J. Lumpkin, a pioneer physician who had bought the property in 1894 for his drug store, rebuilt it the same year and carved the earlier 1884 date into the facade. Over the decades the ground floor held shops, a hardware business and the Farmers Guaranty State Bank, while the upper floor housed offices, including those of attorneys and a county judge. The building shows the two-part commercial block form, with a storefront below and arched windows above. Restoration has returned the front to its c. 1915 look, so it remains among the most intact historic commercial buildings in Meridian.
Significance in brief: The building is tied to the commercial history of Meridian, the Bosque County seat, through its many business and professional tenants, including a bank, a drug store and law offices. It is also one of the earliest and most intact local examples of vernacular commercial architecture in the two-part commercial block form. It meets Criterion A in Commerce and Criterion C in Architecture at the local level.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 98000355, listed April 9, 1998. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 101 Main St., Meridian |
|---|---|
| County | Bosque County |
| Listed | April 9, 1998 |
| Reference number | 98000355 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1901-1948 |
| Architect / builder | Williams, J.M. (builder) |
| Architectural style | Other: 2-part commercial block |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed function is vacant/not in use; an ongoing restoration project, begun under a 1993 master plan, has restored the storefront and upper-level windows. Bosque County bought the building in 1992 as a future home for a local history research center. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 31.92340, -97.64659 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 98000355.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q107319701
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.