Ragland Building
Sweetwater, Nolan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Community leader R.A. Ragland (1858-1938) had this structure erected in 1901 as a one-story building with a random pattern of hand-hewed limestone. He added a second floor in 1906. Charles McFarland bought the building in 1909. The first floor has housed a blacksmith shop and hardware store. The second floor has held the law office and abstract company of Ragland and R.C. Crane, an early Western Union Telegraph office, cotton exporter, doctors, and a sanatorium. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1979.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Community leader R. A. Ragland raised this hand-hewn limestone building in Sweetwater in 1901, adding a second story in 1906. Over the decades its floors held a remarkable range of West Texas commerce and services—a blacksmith shop, a hardware store, law and abstract offices, a Western Union telegraph office, a cotton exporter, doctors, and even a sanatorium. It was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1979.
Why it matters
The Ragland Building is a snapshot of how a single downtown structure could serve as the commercial and civic hub of a growing West Texas railroad town.
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Related people
- · R. A. Ragland
- · R. C. Crane
Themes & tags
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