THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU

636 SOUTH MAIN STREET GRAPEVINE, TExAS

1- 800 - 457- 6338

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GRAPEVINE, TExAS

THE STORy

Of THE HISTORICAl fACADES

M A y O R W I l l I A M D . T A T E

T H E G R A P E V I N E C I T y C O U N C I lC. Shane Wilbanks, Place 1Sharron Spencer, Place 2

Mike Lease, Place 3Darlene Freed, Place 4Chris Coy, Place 5

Roy Stewart, Place 6Bruno Rumbelow, City Manager

T H E B O A R D O f D I R E C T O R SOf THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU

Paul Slechta, ChairThomas Cherry

LuAnn Chapman GattsJohn ImaizumiLance MarrinDennis RobertsDan Weinberger

Paul W. McCallum, Executive Director

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Built from revenues of the tourism and hospitality

industry, this building stands to honor the men

and women whose ambition, vision and hard work

forged the agricultural and commercial heritage of

Grapevine. Settlers, ranchers, farmers, dairymen,

hoteliers, merchants and business persons are all

honored in these facades. By honoring our past, may

this building always serve the present as museums,

galleries and gathering spaces for Grapevinians

and visitors alike.

— Building Cornerstone

GR APEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU H E A D QUA RT E R S & M U S E U M

C OM P l E x , DE DIC AT E D M Ay 18 , 2 012

ARCHITExAS ARCHITECTS

Richard Martratt

THOS. S. ByRNE, lTD. CONTRACTORS

Craig MeldeJohn P. Allender

Gary SkotnickiMichael Karnowski

John Avila, Jr.T.O. SchererDaniel J. Anderson

Paul AvilaJimmy FlippoPaul Austin

Cotton Belt Hotel

In frontier times, travelers were regarded as strangers. At the local hotel, travellers would find a friendly place to stay. Today, the Cotton Belt Hotel, with its very tall tower and Visitor Information Center, welcomes everyone to Grapevine.

With the arrival of the Cotton Belt Railroad in Grapevine in 1888, a need for a proper hotel began to arise. Some of Grapevine’s earliest known hotels were constructed in the 1870s, the most notable being the Baker Hotel and the Wallis Hotel, built by entrepreneur John Wallis in 1891. As a testament to Grapevine’s hospitality industry, the Convention & Visitors Bureau’s first permanent home was the reconstructed Wallis Hotel. It was reconstructed in 1991 four blocks north of its original site to demonstrate the value of historic infill structures and façade restoration.

In 2010, the expanded Convention & Visitors Bureau Headquarters and Museum Complex was constructed across the street from the site of the original Wallis Hotel to stimulate the Railroad District and preserve Grapevine’s rich agricultural and commercial heritage in its Historical Façades. A railroad hotel façade was chosen because of Grapevine’s long standing history as a transportation center and today rail, road and air all play an important part in Grapevine’s prosperity. It beckons visitors and represents today’s hoteliers, airlines and railroads.

“The only building of truly imposing stature in the frontier

community would be the principal hotel.”

- William C. Davis (author and historian)

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The thresholds of this building contain a specially-designed grape motif.

The Cotton Belt Hotel Building storefronts, which face both Hudgins

Street and Main Street, contain cast metal vertical pilasters supporting

spandrel beams that contain wood panelled bases, tall glass show windows

and transom windows made of leaded glass. The storefront unit is topped

with a basket weave brick pattern marking the second floor line. Pairs

of arched wood windows with cast stone sills are toped by an overlaying

arch. Projecting brick pilasters are crowned in the second floor above by

an elliptical brick arch. Star and ring cast iron rosettes embellish the area

between the arches. Above the elliptical arch, broken brick detail is repeated

again in the elliptical arches and parapet. The brick parapet has corbelling

and is capped with cast stone. Two bays back begin cast iron balconies

with diagonal braced railings. Double doors open from the lobby onto

the second floor balconies. Above the doors, a cast stone lintel supports a

lunette of green Andes marble.

This building celebrates the heritage of Grapevine’s hospitality industry,

from the 1870s into the new millennium.

towerThe central, angular placement of the 127-foot brick tower, topped with a 25-foot green french tile pyramidal roof, is the focal point of the entire 38,000 square-foot Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau complex and is the main portal through which entrance is made into the building. Pink Texas granite blocks form the base of the tower and support a capital embellished with cotton flower motif and egg and dart trim. Inscribed letters in the arch, which spring from the capital over the main entrance, spell out the building’s name. Courses of red brick followed by a soldier course of brick carry the eye upward to an arched gallery opening which may be entered through the second floor lobby. On the front of the tower, the double arches are circumscribed by an elliptical projecting arch with a keystone of carved sandstone with grape motif.

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Cast stone capitals with a grape relief band mark the top of the second story, leading the eye upward to an area of broken end brick in a running bond pattern. A checked granite face rests on cast stone capitals decorated with grapes which support the overhanging, projecting landing with ornamental iron cresting supported by projecting cast iron brackets upon which the figures enter the viewing area through arched doorways and move along tracks mounted in the projecting landing. Above the cast arches in alternating halves are stacked brick and soldier course patterns. The 1880s era mechanical clock is located on the left and mechanical thermometer on the right. A wind direction indicator located at the intersection of the four alternating brick patterns is mechanically connected to the weathervane at the pinnacle of the roof. Massive brackets support the tapered green French-tiled roof. The roof is topped by a gilded weathervane with arrow, star and grape ornamentation.

Vertical Clock temperature GuageThe Clock Tower’s unique vertical time and temperature gauges transport the viewer back to the early days of Grapevine, circa the 1880s. The surprising wind dial, with its Cotton Belt Logo, stimulates a little whimsy in those who come to discover the magic of the Tower and is mechanically connected to the glistening gold weather vane on the top of the roof.

wind Direction Dial weather VaneThe glistening gold of the 9-foot weather vane, signifies that conditions are excellent for visiting Grapevine. Visitors are also greeted by the unique vertical clock and temperature gauge on the front side of the Tower. And a unique wind direction dial stimulates a little whimsy in those who come to discover the magic of the Tower. All of the elements of the new building’s design come together to showcase Grapevine as a premier leisure destination, welcoming visitors from across the region, the nation and the world.

Grapevine is the only spot in North America featuring the Would-be Train Robbers. The two larger-than-life, 9-foot tall glockenspiel characters emerge from the Cotton Belt Hotel Tower twice daily at 11:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. to attempt a lucrative train heist. Just as glockenspiels in Europe are rooted in history, Grapevine’s Clock Tower figures reflect the Western lore that many visitors from outside Texas find interesting and entertaining. As the story goes, the main would-be train robber, Willy Majors, who is down on his luck, is confronted by a younger would-be robber, Nat Barrett. Both men are desperately looking to solve their financial woes and start a new life by absconding with a $60,000 cash box on the train arriving today at the Grapevine Depot. See what happens as these men learn that “crime doesn’t pay.”

willy MajorsBorn in 1829 in Tennessee to an itinerant family, Willy had no place to call home. At an early age he ran away and worked in the galley of a riverboat until he was old enough to get in on the gambling. Willy bounced around as a drifter and a gambler and always seemed to be on the shady side of the law. He tried his hand at some legitimate work but always ended up with his hand in the till when it shouldn’t have been. He spent time in some county jails for stage coach and train robberies. He joined up with some notorious outlaws but soon left the gang because he didn’t believe anybody needed to get hurt, you just needed to relieve the rich people of some of their money. Willy knew that his time was running out, with the spread of the telegraph and the photograph he knew it was just a matter of time before he would get caught or killed and he didn’t want either.

He eventually drifted into fort Worth to do some gambling at Hell’s Half Acre where he overheard some talk about a big cash box coming to the fort Worth Stockyards by train for the upcoming cattle, horse and mule auction. Willy saw it as his way out of his life of crime and a chance to get out of the country and go straight. He knew enough about trains to know the best time to hit would be at its last stop at Grapevine just before getting to fort Worth. He headed to Grapevine with the idea he could take the Express Car by himself while the train was getting water and coal and off loading freight and passengers. He would then head straight for Galveston and take the first steamer out of there to his new life of respectability.

nat BarrettBorn on the Grapevine Prairie in 1861, Nat left home at 16 to work the big Open Range ranches of South Texas. A young man of good character, he quickly became a Top Hand Cowboy and was invited to join the big cattle drives up the Chisholm Trail to Dodge City Kansas. Nat toughened up under the harsh conditions of making the long cattle drive many times through extreme weather conditions, uncertain Indian Territory and just a light bedroll between him and the ground. However, he worked hard and saved his money for his dream ranch. Then abruptly, the cattle drives stopped, replaced by the railroads taking the cattle directly to Chicago. Nat was out of work and soon had to depend on his savings.

It was now 1890 and Nat had heard that the Cotton Belt train from St. louis was carrying the biggest cash box ever to the biggest cattle, horse and mule auction in the fort Worth Stockyards. Now, he knew that the train would have to stop in Grapevine to take on water for the steam locomotive and that they would unload passengers and freight. Nat was bitter against the railroads for putting him out of work and costing him his savings for his ranch. He thought that if he could just snatch that $60,000 cash box while the train was stopped and all the commotion of people getting off and the train crew taking on water and freight and such, he could do it without anyone getting hurt. He would then slip away, buy his big ranch and never step on the wrong side of the law again.

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The mystery of the Glockenspiel is that you will never

know which Would-Be Train Robber is the better shot

until it is over. No matter which one it is, both will

learn that crime just doesn’t pay. Will it be Nat? Or

will it be Willy? Perhaps you might venture a guess.

On March 2, 1836, when Texas declared its independence from Mexico, there were 60,000 people in the entire state of Texas -- just a few more than now live in Grapevine. On February 4, 1841, Texas passed a law to encourage good, active, productive and industrious people to settle the empty spaces.

Special companies were formed to bring people into Texas to start farms, ranches and towns. The most famous company agent in this area was W. S. Peters and his associates who formed the Texas Emigration and Land Company. By 1848, they had brought 2,205 colonists to Texas. This group of settlers was referred to as the Peters Colony and they helped to settle the Grapevine area.

During the summer of 1850, Texas Land Commissioner Thomas William Ward, appointed by Governor Peter Hansbrough Bell, traveled through the area and issued certificates to those who had built a cabin and had settled prior to July 1, 1848. In 1853, colonists were permitted to file their claims directly with the Land Office. Most colonists were issued their Land Patents from 1852 to 1854.

Today, the Land Patent also honors Grapevine’s title companies, attorneys, insurance agents, realtors and developers. You can see a Land Patent on display in the Grapevine Historical Museum located on the west side of this complex.

This building, with its smooth plaster and painted exterior, features Victorian and Italianate influences in keeping with the architecture that would have been found in the business districts of early Texas. Of note are the eyebrow window lintels, wood storefront with transom windows, distinctive wrought iron railing and a gilded eagle in the lunette above the second floor. The zinc cornice with repeating brackets features pine cones, wreathes and shell ornaments.

This building façade represents the commitment of the first settlers to the Grape Vine Prairie.

“Land is the secure ground of home.”- Stephen F. Austin

lanD Patent offiCe

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Eli Mathis Jenkins made several trips to Grapevine between 1856 and 1859, and he liked the area that was sometimes called “Dunnville” in honor of his father-in-law, John Cartwright Dunn, and his brother-in-law, I. P. Solon Dunn. A store located here had closed in 1856, so Mr. Jenkins sent plans and lumber to Grapevine for the construction of a 26 ½ foot by 75 foot store. He also sent a load of merchandise to sell in the new store and hired his brother-in-law, Solon Dunn, to manage it. Soon, the post office opened in the store and Mr. Dunn was appointed as postmaster. This remained the only general store in Grapevine until after the Civil War.

Grapevine was an excellent location for a store. The general store was the most frequented establishment of any frontier town and a single store could meet community needs, stocking everything from quinine and calico to hand tools and breaking ploughs. It was the place where homesteaders came to purchase supplies and sell crops. For the pioneer woman, a shopping trip to town offered a heartening change from isolation and daily chores.

The Jenkins’ general store was passed down through generations of the Jenkins family and remained open for business on Main Street for more than 129 years.

Today this building honors the merchants, retailers, boutiques and galleries of Grapevine. You can see some of their merchandise in the Grapevine Historical Museum located on the west side of this complex.

This building’s early Victorian-style clapboard façade with wood windows and transoms reflects the materials of Grapevine’s first Main Street storefronts. The vertical wrought iron railing and two pair of tall two-over-one windows on the second floor lead your eye upward to a band of tin dentil ornamental molding and a cornice embellished with ornamental medallions, shells and teardrop finials.

This façade celebrates the establishment of the entrepreneurial spirit in Grapevine.

“A merchant who approaches business with the idea of

serving the public well has nothing to fear from the

competition.”- James Cash Penney

Dunn MerCantile

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GraPeVine Dairy ProDuCers BuilDinG

In 1845, when the settlers came to Texas, most families brought a cow with them that provided milk, butter and cheese for the family. As towns grew, a market for milk and milk products developed and farmers started selling milk to people who lived in town.

The Trigg Dairy located south of Grapevine was the first dairy to sell milk here. The William Bogart family was another important local dairy family who started the Golden Gate Dairy. They owned 800 Jersey cows and operated four dairy farms southwest of Grapevine.

There were 79 dairies in the Grapevine area. Where did they all go? Construction of the Grapevine Dam and Reservoir began in the late 1940s and opened in 1952; construction of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport began in the late 1960s and opened in 1974. These two projects took away much of Grapevine’s farmland. Other farms were sold and were replaced with new houses and businesses.

Today, Grapevine’s dairies are no more, but they are remembered for the great economic contributions they made to growing Grapevine for more than six decades on the Grape Vine Prairie. Much of the same processes that are used in a dairy to preserve and process milk to make curds and cottage cheese are the same processes used to make wine. Perhaps we still get a glimpse of the care the dairy men took to produce good milk and cheese in the work that viticulturists and wine makers do to produce good wine. You can see many of Grapevine’s dairy items on display in the Grapevine Historical Museum located on the west side of this complex and at historic Nash Farm.

“Running a dairy was a commitment, twenty hours a day, but Mayor Willis Pirkle did it well. He was not only a good businessman but also had a lot of common sense.

He has been an inspiration to me, a good example, and he is

one of the best men that I have ever known.”

- William D. Tate

The ground floor of this building provides a Main Street vehicular entrance

to the public parking area for the 636 South Main Complex. A stone base

supports the milk-washed brick of the building above. Two arched pedestrian

portals which flank the vehicular entrance and brick laid in a running bond

pattern complete the first floor level. Roman numerals in the cast stone

sign panel reveal 2010, the year the building was erected. Corbelled brick

supports the brick railing of the terrace overlook. The second floor has four-

over-one wood windows and wood doors with cast stone spandrels above

the windows and projecting brick pilasters. The arched cast stone sign panel

features the building name, “Grapevine Dairy Producers.”

This façade celebrates the work ethic of the dairy farmers who became

important community leaders.

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farMers CooPeratiVe

BuilDinG

From 1844 to 1970, Grapevine truck farmers grew tomatoes, cantaloupes, watermelons, squash and cucumbers and Grape Vine prairie farmers grew cotton, wheat, oats, milo and peanuts. Locally-grown produce was sold here and taken by truck to markets as far away as Oklahoma City and Joplin, Missouri.

From 1935 to 1941 Grapevine held cantaloupe festivals on Main Street to celebrate the area’s plentiful cantaloupe crop. Grapevine became known as the “Cantaloupe Center of the U.S.A.” Today, we have many festivals in Grapevine. GrapeFest®, held in September, honors Grapevine’s agricultural heritage.

Grape Vine Prairie farmers could never have dreamed of the changes that would happen here and that all their fertile farmland would have other uses. In the 1940s, the Grapevine Dam and Reservoir built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took 2,334 acres of Grapevine’s rich farmland inside the city limits to provide drinking water for the growing city of Dallas. Many farmers moved from the north side to the south side of town so they could keep farming. Then, in the early 1970s, the development of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport took 7,872 acres of Grapevine’s farmland inside the city limits. This ended Grapevine’s agricultural-based economy. Twice, Grapevine was called upon to give up its farmland for the greater good of Texas.

Today, if you look closely you might see the spirit of Grapevine farmer in bakers, chefs, restaurants, wine pourers, farmers market vendors, feed store purveyors and other agricultural merchants. You can see many farm tools displayed in the Grapevine Historical Museum located on the west side of this building and farming exhibits at historic Nash Farm.

The base of this building features granite and “iron spot” brick which blends color from purple to black. The building has metal store front windows with a sign band and a recessed vestibule with leaded glass transoms. The running band of brick features a diagonal pattern and supports a cast stone sill. The second floor features two sections. To the left, the projecting cast stone pediment tops the wall area containing five wood windows with stained glass gabled transoms separated by a cast stone band. Above the windows and under the pediment is a band of grapevine bas relief of cast stone.

To the right, the circular turret features the running band pattern brick base with the cast stone sill. Tall, narrow wood windows are topped with cast stone arched transoms separated by the cast stone band. The cast stone bas relief grapevine continues around the turret which is topped with a conical standing seam metal roof.

A standing seam metal hip roof tops the farmers Cooperative Building. On the north end of this building, the brick portion of the wall features a cast stone cap. On the north side of this building, the brick portion of the wall features a cast stone cap and the wall is segmented by four rows of soldier coursing iron spot brick. The metal portion of the façade is galvanized corrugated siding placed in a vertical pattern with a galvanized metal cornice.

This building honors the Grape Vine truck and prairie farmers who sacrificed their land and way of life for the greater good of North Texas.

“Ancient Greeks celebrated the grape harvest with Bacchus and some Texas cities still

celebrate King Cotton, but in Grapevine we celebrate the

harvest season with one of the biggest cantaloupe festivals in the World... 150 growers are expected to bring in $250,000 of cantaloupes and tomatoes are expected to bring in even more”.- Mayor B. R. Wall, May 24, 1939

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GraPeVine Cotton

exCHanGe

In 1858, George Emanuel Bushong built and operated the first cotton gin in the Grapevine area. In 2000, Kenneth R. Davis was the last farmer to commercially grow cotton on the Grape Vine Prairie. He farmed Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport land that had belonged to his great-grandfather, Tom Biggers.

Over the years, Grapevine had three cotton gins in town and other small communities around Grapevine also had gins. Cotton gins removed the seeds from the cotton. Cotton was then formed into bales that weighed about 500 pounds each.

Grapevine farmers sold their bales to cotton buyers who shipped the cotton away to mills in distant towns. The 500-pound bales were loaded onto the Cotton Belt Railroad and sent to Greenville, Texas, to the world’s largest in-land cotton compressor. There, the bales of cotton were pressed down to less than half their former size. Then the compressed cotton was stacked back in railcars and shipped to mill towns on the east coast or to Galveston for export to England to be made into cloth.

Today, the Cotton Exchange represents Grapevine’s bankers, investment companies and other business interests. Just as Grapevine’s cotton once touched the world, today the world touches Grapevine. What once were cotton fields are now water parks, attractions and resorts which people from around the world enjoy.

“Blackland area cotton was then regarded most highly by

spinners of England.”- Texas Historical Marker,

Greenville (TX) Cotton Compress

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This façade of this building has cast metal pilasters on the first floor and

spandrel beam containing storefronts which feature wood and glass doors

and tall windows and sets of four-light transoms above. The heavy, two-foot

thick rubble coursed field stone wall of the second floor features large quoins

(stones) accentuating its corners. Pierced tin wall sconces with cotton boll

design adorn each doorway.

Between the doorways and below the sconces are embedded stones from

Grapevine’s sister cities of Parras de la fuente, Coahuila Mexico; Krems on the

Danube, Austria and West lothian, Scotland as well as natural treasures from

the Grape Vine Prairie including petrified wood, fossils and other artifacts.

Above the balcony, five x braces mark the structural bays of the building.

The ornamental zinc parapet contains swags, tassels and pairs of projecting

supporting brackets with frieze which crown the building. The ceilings of the

balconies are painted sky blue to deter insects and birds from building nests.

This building commemorates the agricultural era of growing cotton on the

Grape Vine Prairie.

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Texas Wine and Viticultural Museum – Within the Cotton Exchange Building will be the Texas Wine and Viticultural Museum, representing the agriculture of Grapevine’s farming community. The Four Seasons of Grape Growing and the making, serving and selling of wine will be shown. Prominently displayed will be the Grapevine Wine Pourer’s Society’s gift to the city of Grapevine, a beautiful bronze barrel representing the “art of the pour” with the wine pourer’s vest, medallion and wine tool and a non-gendered pour from the leaves of the grapevine. Designed by artist Sonya Terpening and sculpted by artist Dawn Sharp, this artistic tribute represents the significant impact of the Texas Wine Industry on Grapevine’s heritage and future success.

The Grand Hall – This majestic special function space for official city events and meetings creates a beautiful backdrop for all types of special events and meetings. The stately wooden walls are chevroned to a beautiful interior of Golden Oak and Douglas Fir. The ceiling is also crafted in Douglas Fir, with beams made of white pine with a black pickle finish. Three large chandeliers made of elk and mule deer antlers are the centerpiece of this large room. Joe Carroll, a native American artist, utilized antlers shed on reservations. After 35 years of crafting his art, these are the largest and most fantastic creation of his career. The wall sconces were crafted by Giovanni, a local artist. The iron door pulls were made by Grapevine’s blacksmith, Will Frary.

Retail Space – Two 1008 square foot Class A retail spaces anchor the northern end of the complex in the grand floor of the Farmers Cooperative. The space is geared towards a tourism-friendly business which will enhance Grapevine’s variety of outstanding attractions, shops, restaurants and additional local businesses.

The Grand Entry - Entering through the main doors at the corner of Main and Hudgins Street, visitors to the building will delight at the first floor entry with its’ grand staircase and the beautiful Palladian-design marble floor. The design refers to Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580), whose work was strongly based on the symmetry, perspective and values of the formal classical temple architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Michelangelo black and gold marble represents railroading and black gold, the champagne and the third color, represents the earth or clay of the Grape Vine Prairie. The running pattern in each direction is a true Palladian marble design.

The Grand Staircase – More than 100 years ago, grand staircases were the focal point of a building’s entry and were very popular in courthouses and public facilities. The Grapevine CVB Headquarters Grand Staircase is built in this tradition with features including:• A lone star within the center of the railing representing Texas, the Lone Star State; • The stair treads that were built in three phases to obtain their width;• Underneath, the staircase is cast with the classic egg and dart design and branded

NYS USA New York Steel, all U.S. American iron.

Museum and Gallery Space – On the ground floor of the Dunn Mercantile and Land Patent Office, there will be rotating exhibits with breathtaking pieces of art and other crafts, which enhance the thriving art scene in Historic Downtown Grapevine. With new exhibits rotating every few weeks, visitors are encouraged to make repeat visits to the building to discover new treasures.