Cunningham, Captain James & Susannah, Homestead
a.k.a. Mountain Creek Ranch
19601 TX 16 S., Comanche, TXCaptain James and Susannah Cunningham Homestead is a Double-pen Dogtrot (Central Passage) style house built in 1855 with a stone kitchen added in 1873. The Cunninghams were among the earliest settlers on what was then the far western reaches of Anglo-American settlement in Texas as it encroached into Comanche territory. Their house is believed to be the oldest surviving house in Comanche County. For its association with the early non-native settlement of Comanche County, the Cunningham Homestead is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level of significance in the area of Exploration Settlement. The Cunningham Homestead is also an excellent local example of a Pre-Railroad Era Double-pen Dogtrot, a vernacular style that originated in the Southern colonies and moved west with the advancing frontier. As is typical of the style, the Cunningham Homestead is one-story with a side-gabled roof and features a central breezeway flanked by single pens (or rooms) with chimneys on the gable ends. Less typical was the use of oak framing with pine clapboard siding instead of the more familiar log construction. The stone kitchen, added along the east elevation, introduced embellishments associated with the Greek Revival style. For its architectural significance, the Cunningham Homestead is eligible for listing in the National Register. The period of significance is from 1855, the year the Cunninghams arrived in what is now Comanche County, to 1873. The latter year corresponds to the year the stone kitchen was constructed, giving the house the form it has today (2012).
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.