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"Statement of Significance
The 1901 Lumpkin Building in Meridian, the county seat of Bosque County, is one of the earliest stone commercial buildings in the town, built by local resident J.M. Williams. In 1894 prominent Meridian physician and civic leader Dr. J.J. Lumpkin purchased the building to house his drug store, which thence forth became known as the Lumpkin Building. A devastating fire heavily damaged the building in 1901, and Dr. Lumpkin rebuilt this building, on a prominent corner lot in Meridian’s central business district, that same year. The building housed a number of occupants over the years, including the Farmers Guaranty State Bank, a hardware store, and various professional offices on the second floor. For its long association with the history of commerce in Meridian, the Lumpkin Building meets Criterion A in the area of Commerce at the local level of significance. As one of the earliest and most intact local examples of vernacular commercial architecture reflecting the 2-part commercial block form, the building also meets Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the local level of significance.
The town of Meridian originated as the county seat for the newly established Bosque County in 1854. The origins of the town’s name remain somewhat unclear. George B. Erath surveyed the townsite that year and lots were sold at public sale on July 4, 1854. Persons buying lots were asked to erect some sort of building on the lots they purchased as soon as possible. The central courthouse square was left vacant while a temporary log cabin served as courthouse until a permanent courthouse could be constructed.
The town grew slowly, primarily as a regional center for trade and shipping for the surrounding farms and as a stop on the state route between Waco and Stephenville. The area’s rich soils and plentiful grassland encouraged livestock production, especially cattle.
The biggest period of economic growth appears to have occurred in the 1880s, when the Santa Fe Railroad came through Bosque County in 1882-84, laying tracks about two miles east of Meridian. Although Valley
Mills and Clifton, in the southern part of the county, were slowly moving their settlements closer to the rail lines, Dr. J.J. Lumpkin led the fight, along with other leading Meridian citizens, to prevent Meridian from relocating in order to be closer to the railroad. A prominent factor in their argument was already developing
commercial center around the courthouse square, including the newly completed stone commercial building on Lot 1, Block 4 just north of the courthouse. An area called East Meridian did develop around the new railroad, but the center of population remained at the original site. The construction of a new 3-story limestone courthouse in 1886 finally settled the issue of the town’s location.
Meridian resident J.M. Williams acquired Lot 1, Block 4 in July 1881. Mr. Williams built what was apparently the first stone commercial building in Meridian on this lot in 1884 (see Figure 8-1). The limestone used for the building was quarried from the hills about a mile west of Meridian. One of the early tenants of this building, Dr. J.J. Lumpkin, pharmacist and doctor of medicine, operated "the first exclusive drug store" in Meridian and later purchased the building in 1894. A newspaper clipping from The Bosque Citizen shows that
the building was referred to as the "Lumpkin Rock Building" as early as 1887.
Typical of 2-story stone commercial building built in Bosque County during the turn of the century, the first floor of the Lumpkin Building was used for businesses while the upper floor was divided into office space. The June 15, 1900, issue of the Meridian Tribune lists occupants of the Lumpkin Building, including A.P. Cruse & Son, who advertised their large stock of hardware, tinware, glassware, as well as "Shoes, Hats and Gents furnishings." This same issue of the Tribune also carried an item concerning C.M. Cureton and E.R. Pedigo who housed their law office and library in the Lumpkin Building.
By 1900 the population of Meridian approached 1000, and the business district around the courthouse square included a bank and insurance office, the offices of land agents, two saloons, and other active businesses. On September 11, 1901, fire destroyed the Lumpkin Building. Newspaper reports state that the fire started in the
Lumpkin Building in the room occupied by A.P. Cruse & Son. High winds quickly spread the fire and badly damaged nine other commercial buildings on the courthouse square. The September 13, 1901, issue of the Meridian Tribune listed Dr. Lumpkin’s losses at $10,000 on office fixtures and surgical instruments and A.P. Cruse & Son’s losses at $7,000 on hardware and gent’s furnishings. Attorney Cureton & Pedigo lost $1300 in office fixtures. Several other Meridian businesses suffered substantial losses, including real estate agents, drug
stores, grocery stores, restaurants, saloons, the telephone company, and the First National Bank. Lumpkin built this more modest building later that year, but placed the first building’s date of construction, 1884, on the front facade.
Several of the Lumpkin Building’s occupants played prominent roles in the Meridian community. E.M. Cureton and H.C. Odle, early tenants of the Lumpkin Building, became community leaders who achieved noteable roles in Texas governmental affairs. Calvin Maples Cureton practiced law in Meridian and later was elected to the state legislature. He went on to serve as Attorney General of the state and ended his career as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. H.C. Odle, a well known realtor in Bosque County, was appointed the first Texas Highway Commissioner.
Dr. J.J. Lumpkin and P.S. Hale, prominent citizens of Meridian, were the two persons most closely associated with the Lumpkin Building.
Julius J. Lumpkin was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, in 1852. He studied medicine and graduated from the Medical College in Charleston in 1876. He came to Texas that year, settling in Meridian, and began the practice of his profession immediately. On January 8, 1878, he married Ida E. Fuller, who came to Meridian with her parents when she was six months old in 1860.
Dr. Lumpkin was a pioneer physician in this section of the state with a practice in the early days of the county that extended over a large territory. Both Dr. and Mrs. Lumpkin were active in civic affairs and greatly interested in the cultural upbuilding of the community. In 1913 Dr. Lumpkin built the St. James Episcopal Church for his wife, and in 1916 the Lumpkins built and equipped a public library which they gave to the town in memory of Mrs. Lumpkin’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Moses Fuller. The Victorian home of the Lumpkins on Main Street still stands and is designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (1982). Dr. Lumpkin died in 1921; Mrs. Ida Lumpkin died in 1954 at the age of 96.
Phillip Smith Hale was born at Church Hill, Tennessee, in 1867. He came to Texas in 1887 where he first taught school in Rockdale. Later he moved to Bosque County, settling in Meridian in 1890. Hale, an attorney and Justice of the Peace was listed as an occupant of the Lumpkin Building in the write-up of the fire in 1901, and he kept an office on the second floor of this building until his death in 1944. During this time his public service to the town of Meridian and Bosque county included: Justice of the Peace, 1900-1904; County Judge
of Bosque County, 1904-1916; and Mayor of Meridian, 1924-1930. He also served as president of the school board of the Meridian Public School for nine years. Following his death his daughter, Mary Pearl hale, kept the insurance office until c. 1960.
From 1911 to 1926, the Lumpkin Building also housed the Farmers Guaranty State Bank. Farmers Guaranty was the second bank in town, competing for business with the First National Bank directly across the street, fervently encouraging small accounts in its local newspaper ads. Around 1926 this bank merged with First
National Bank, and later moved out of the Lumpkin Building.
Other occupants of the Lumpkin Building over the years included: J.T. McConnell, grocery store, c. 1904; Community Public Service (electric company), c. 1930-1960; drug store, 1970s; John Hastings, attorney and
abstract offices, 1980s. John Hastings remodeled the upper floor in the 1980s. In 1992, Bosque County purchased the Lumpkin Building as the future home of the Bosque County Collection, a research center for
local history, part of the Bosque County Historical Commission.
The succession of various businesses housed in the Lumpkin Building reflect the steady nature of Meridian’s economic growth. According to the 1900 census, the population for Meridian was 923. By 1910, Meridian’s population had dropped to 718. The population rose to 1024 by 1920, however the onset of the Great Depression further hurt the slow growth of the town, whose population fell to 759 by 1930. Since the town lacked significant transportation outlets that played so vital a role in the growth of Texas communities during
the early 20th century, Meridian’s commercial area remained small, and buildings like the Lumpkin survived because of little need to replace them with larger, newer buildings.
The Lumpkin Building is a good example of turn of the century commercial architecture in Bosque County, exemplifying the 2-part commercial block form. Rectangular in shape, the 2-story office building housed businesses and retail establishments on the lower floor and offices on the upper floor. The building’s configuration reflects this usage, with large plate glass storefront windows and an overhanging canopy on the street level and smaller, more private arched windows on the upper level. The vernacular architecture of the
Lumpkin Building using readily accessible building materials such as limestone typifies commercial buildings of this time period in Bosque County.
Of the remaining commercial buildings built in Meridian during this time period, the Lumpkin Building stands relatively intact. The courthouse, built in 1886 of limestone from the quarry west of town, was remodeled in 1935 at which time the towers were removed. The two commercial buildings from this period which remain in use are the 1889 First National Bank Building (NR 1979) and the 1896 IOOF Building, just across Main Street from the Lumpkin Building, both of which have sustained alterations.
The Lumpkin Building carries a long association with the commercial development of Meridian as a small rural Texas county seat. Occupying a prominent corner lot just north of the courthouse, it served as an anchor for surrounding commercial development throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. Its variety of occupants illustrates the sufficiency of the building to provide commercial facilities for the needs of the town which has maintained a relatively consistent level of economic and population growth throughout its history. Further, its recent rehabilitation of the primary facade makes it an important and intact local example of vernacular commercial architecture in Meridian."