5 National Historic Places to See

Share lessons on Abilene history with your family by walking, biking, or driving by these five sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an official list of the country's historic places worthy of preservation. Learn about architecture as well by looking for unique features like colored tiles, finials (distinctive ornaments along the roofline), sculptures, and masonry medallions and arches over windows and doorways.

1. Lebold Mansion, 106 North Vine

Local banker, realtor and politician C.H. Lebold built this 20-room mansion in 1880 over the site of Abilene’s first log cabin. It has served as a residence, a home for telephone operators, an orphanage, and an apartment building.

2. Vine Street Historic District, 301 to 415 North Vine Street and 808-810 Northwest Third Street

Located on Abilene’s original 80-acre townsite along the west bank of Mud Creek, this district includes 19 houses built between 1880 and 1920 featuring an array of architectural styles, including Colonial Revival, Italianate, Prairie, Queen Anne, Craftsman, Italian Renaissance and Folk.

3. Abilene City Park Historic District, Fourth Street at Poplar Street and Pine Street

The fairgrounds stadium, the pool’s bathhouse, the pergola, 17 tables and benches, and three picnic ovens were built through the New Deal, a domestic program under President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939 to bring about economic relief during the Great Depression that began in 1929.

4. Naroma Court Historic District, 801, 803, and 805 Spruceway, 106 Naroma Court, 800 North Buckeye Avenue

Cleyson L. Brown turned his small telephone company into a utilities conglomerate and in 1925 built four homes, for his daughter and three business colleagues, in Spanish Colonial Revival Style behind his own mansion. He changed his Queen Anne home at 800 North Buckeye, built in 1886, from Eastlake-style to Free Classic-style in 1914.

5. Seelye Mansion, 1105 North Buckeye

This 25-room house, constructed from 1905 to 1906 in Georgian Revival style, is surrounded by an eight-sided gazebo, a fish pond, and a patio reflecting original landscaping features. Alfred Barnes Seelye, the founder of the A.B. Seelye Medicine Company, built the home that has 11 bedrooms, six bathrooms, a third floor ballroom, and a bowling alley in the basement.