Doan's Adobe House
Why it's listed
Near Doans in Wilbarger County, Texas, a small adobe house marks the site of a once-busy frontier trading post. Corwin F. Doan, an Ohio-born trader who had worked at Fort Sill, built it about 1880 beside an important crossing of the Red River. The original structure was a one-room building about 17 by 27½ feet, with double-course adobe walls 18 inches thick, a gable roof with hand-hewn rafters, and wooden elements said to have been hauled from Gainesville. The post was the last place to buy supplies before cattle drovers on the Western Trail entered Indian Territory, and it also served Comanche and Kiowa customers. The surrounding town peaked at several hundred residents in 1885, then declined as railroads arrived and the big cattle drives ended. A fire in 1922 destroyed everything but the adobe walls, and the roof, floors, doors and windows date from afterward. It is the only remnant of the town and one of few adobe buildings in north Texas.
Significance in brief: It is one of the few adobe buildings in north Texas and the only surviving structure of the frontier town of Doan's Crossing. The trading post served the Comanche and Kiowa tribes and cattle drivers on the Western Cattle Trail, which ran toward the railroad at Dodge City, Kansas.
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 79003023, listed February 8, 1979. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | E of Odell off U.S. 283, Odell |
|---|---|
| County | Wilbarger County |
| Listed | February 8, 1979 |
| Reference number | 79003023 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Corwin F. Doan (builder) |
| Areas of significance | Exploration/Settlement, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Unoccupied and deteriorated; later wooden additions are in poor condition, and the owners plan to remove them and restore the adobe building. |
| Acreage | 2.5 |
| Coordinates | 34.34401, -99.25586 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 79003023.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q56282661
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.