Ragland Building

Historical marker location:

113 - 117 E 3rd St., Sweetwater, Texas

( 113-115-117 E. 3rd Street, Sweetwater)

Marker installed: 1979

Community leader R.A. Ragland (1858-1938) had this structure erected in 1901 as a one-story building with a random pattern of hand-hewed limestone. He added a second floor in 1906. Charles McFarland bought the building in 1909. The first floor has housed a blacksmith shop and hardware store. The second floor has held the law office and abstract company of Ragland and R.C. Crane, an early Western Union Telegraph office, cotton exporter, doctors, and a sanatorium.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1979.

commercial buildings markets, mercantiles

The cattle industry played a significant role in the development of Texas, with cowboys driving cattle from Texas to railheads in Kansas during the late 1800s and early 1900s.