The John B. Ragland Mercantile Company Building, also known as Raglands, is a historic building at 201 E. Kleberg Ave. in

Kingsville, Texas Kingsville is a city in the southern region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Kleberg County. Located on the U.S. Route 77 corridor between Corpus Christi and Harlingen, Kingsville is the principal city of the Kingsville Micr ...

. It was designed by

Jules Leffland Julius Carl "Jules" Leffland (September 9, 1854 – October 21, 1924) was a Danish-born architect known for his work in Victoria, Texas, and throughout South Texas. He was active in South Texas from approximately 1886 until the 1910s. Many of h ...

and was built in 1909 to replace a small frame store built by John Ragland in 1904. He operated the store until his death in 1908. Before he died, Ragland sold the lots and store and it was incorporated as the John B. Ragland Mercantile Co. The store sold dry goods,

millinery Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

, suits, pants, shirts, cloaks, skirts, hats and shoes. In 1943, the company was dissolved, and ownership was transferred to Robert J. Kleberg & Co. In 1950, that entinty was dissolved and it was sold to King Ranch Inc., as a new subsidiary known as Ragland Mercantile Co. It was also remodeled that same year, receiving a new facade, new interiors, new fixtures and new storefronts, including the first escalator in South Texas, according to town historian Bruce Cheeseman. The store closed in 1979. After a $1.2 million restoration project, that restored much of the original building, it reopened in 1990 as the King Ranch Saddle Shop. In 1991, the building received two awards from the Texas Downtown Association for best store interior and best commercial restoration, and in 1992, the Texas Historical Foundation gave the building its Josiah Wheat Award of Merit, for an "outstanding historical restoration project". It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1993. Its design is mainly

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

but has other architectural elements including Gothic Revival and

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

. Its two public facades are brick and limestone.)

References

{{Kleberg County, Texas Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Italianate architecture in Texas Commercial buildings completed in 1909 Kingsville, Texas National Register of Historic Places in Kleberg County, Texas

See also

References