Indiana Avenue wins historical designation

A portion of Indiana Avenue in downtown Wichita Falls has received designation as a historic district from the Texas Historical Commission and the National Register of Historic Places.

Developer Andy Lee said that means owners of the buildings can comply with preservation rules for the buildings and receive national and state tax credits that add up to 45 percent.

“That’s major incentive,” Lee said.

The designation applies to 12 buildings from 900 to 1008 Indiana Avenue and includes the historic Wichita Theater.

“The boundaries of the district in the greater downtown were chosen because this area is a particularly intact collection of buildings that span the period 1908-1960 that display commercial architectural styles of these periods,” a National Park Service document said. The district is adjacent to the Depot Square Historic District that received designation in 2004.

Buildings in the Indiana Avenue District are:

• Perkins-Snider/Radio Building at 901 Indiana Ave. This structure was built in 1925 to house early radio state KGKO, the Chamber of Commerce and offices.
• McConnell Brothers Building at 915 Indiana Ave. This building was erected in 1927 to house a furniture store. It later housed Noble Hardware, which stayed in business until the 1970s.
• Wichita Theater at 925 Indiana Ave. Originally a 1908 brick Classical Revival building, the theater was drastically altered in 1938 and has functioned as an opera house, live performance venue and a movie theater.
• Marcus Brothers/Parisian at 927 Indiana Ave. Built in 1925, the building at times housed a tire shop, seed and feed store and grocery store. It became the Parisian women’s store in 1953.
• Perkins-Timberlake Building at 900 Indiana Ave. Constructed in 1921 to become Perkins-Timberlake Department Store, a longtime downtown retail fixture.
• Olympia Theater/Olympia Fruit at 908 Indiana Ave. The structure was erected in 1920 as the Olympia Theater and later became home to retail stores.
• Kimberlin Shop/W.T. Grant Building at 914 Indiana Ave.  Built in 1924, the Kimberlin shop went bankrupt the following year and the space was taken by a mass merchandise company.
• American Hotel at 700 Indiana Ave. It was constructed in 1915 to house a hotel on the second and third floors with retail stores on the first floor.
• Filgo/Bailey-Moline Building at 1000 Indiana Ave.  It was constructed in 1929, housed several furniture stores then was Western Auto Supply into the 1970s.

The majority of the buildings in the district are Chicago Style buildings of the American Movement Commercial Style. Some of the buildings have detailing such as the Renaissance Revival, Prairie and Classical Revival elements.

Lee said five of the 12 buildings are vacant. Three are on market for sale or lease.

“It’s pretty big news because we’ve got two national historic districts downtown,” Lee said