Indiana District, Petroleum Building get state historical designation

Lynn Walker
Wichita Falls Times Record News
Looking north at the 900 block of Indiana Avenue in downtown Wichita Falls. A Texas Historical Commission committee on Saturday approved historical designation for a portion of the street, which contains buildings contructed in the early years of the 20th century.

Two historical sites in Wichita Falls were designated by the Texas Historical Commission Board of Review on Saturday, giving building owners financial incentive to rejuvenate them.

"It's done. We're there!" said Andy Lee, a developer active in downtown rejuvenation.

The designations must be stamped by the full historical commission before being sent to the National Parks Service for a federal OK. Lee said those two steps are just routine.

"This clears the way to go to work," he said.

The Petroleum Building at Eighth and Scott streets downtown won designation by the Texas Historical Commission Satuday, providing tax incentives for its owner for rejuvenation.

The two sites are a portion of Indiana Avenue and the former Petroleum Building, both in downtown Wichita Falls.

A historic designation not only provides protection to the structures but gives building owners incentive to preserve and restore them in the form of state and federal tax credits.

This vacant buiding at 900 Indiana Avenue was once the upscale Perkins-Timberlake Department Store and is in an area of downtown Wichita Falls which won state desigation as a historical district.

Fourteen business buildings in the 900 through 1000 block of Indiana Avenue are included in the designation, called the Indiana Avenue Historic District. 

Included are the historic Wichita Theater, the First Texas Building that housed one of the city's earliest radio stations and the Perkins-Timberlake department store. Most buildings were constructed in the 1920s as stores, theaters and hotels.

The First Texas Building in the 900 block of Indiana Avenue is included in the Indiana Avenue Historical District.

The Petroleum Building sits on the site of the demolished Kemp Hotel at Eighth and Scott streets. It was built between 1966 and 1968 to house American Trust and the Holiday Inn Downtown.

The 10-story building changed hands several times over the years, became a residential hotel and a site of frequent criminal complaints before closing.

California developer Will Kelty is trying to turn the upper floors into apartments, some of which would be targeted to college students. The ground floor houses active businesses.