Character-Defining Features Analysis

Natural Systems and Features are the natural aspects that have influenced the development and physical form of a landscape. Geologic and hydrologic features will be covered in this section. Features associated with topography and vegetation are included in subsequent sections.

The primary natural system that defines Bassett Farms is the watershed, featuring springs, creeks, and rivers. Additional natural systems that existed during the historic period include geology and flora, but they have degraded over time due to the intensive farming and grazing practices that have dominated local land use for the past 150 years.

Bassett Farms is in the Brazos River Basin, within the Little Brazos River watershed. The Little Brazos rises in Limestone County before flowing southwest into the Brazos River in Brazos County.2 In the 1830s, the Little Brazos River was described as being about 16 feet wide with a riparian area that was 650 feet wide.3 It forms a portion of the western boundary of Bassett Farms.

The Little Brazos is spring fed and increases in flow as it nears the Brazos River. It was sometimes described as sluggish or dry in the late 1800s but was subject to flooding during periods of heavy rainfall. While major floods could be damaging to crops and infrastructure

2 Preservation Texas. Overview, 9.

3 Preservation Texas. Overview, 18 such as bridges, rainfall was generally welcomed at Bassett Farms because it tempered periodic drought and long, dry summers.4

Bassett Farms is bisected by spring-fed Sulphur Creek, which flows into the Little Brazos. The creek provided a source of water for irrigation and cattle on the farm, and the Bassett family located their home near the north branch. The Bassett family built wells throughout the property for themselves and for their tenants that drew from Sulphur Creek and associated springs, though the sulphuric content of the water made it unsuitable for drinking and it was used for agricultural or other types of domestic uses instead.5

The wells retained water even during times of drought. Wetland areas adjacent to the springs and creeks provided plant and animal habitat but were also seen as obstacles to farming and grazing by farmers in the past due to drainage and flooding issues.6

Sulphur Spring is located at the south end of the historic pasture area, near the Hirshfield Farm boundary. In addition to feeding Sulphur Creek, providing water for farm operations, and recreational opportunities to the residents on Bassett Farms, Sulphur Spring was a potential gathering place for indigenous people in the area and may contain archaeological resources from the pre-historic and historic periods.7

The terrain along the Little Brazos River watershed is relatively flat and provided ideal conditions for agricultural uses. Though high in clay content, Henry Bassett found the soils to provide productive farming conditions, especially since he was able to produce throughout the long, hot, and dry summers using water from the springs, creeks, and rivers located on the property.

4 Preservation Texas. Overview, 10.

5 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 24.

6 Preservation Texas. Overview, 9.

7 Preservation Texas. Hirshfield Farm, 2.

Bassett Farms is located at the western edge of the post oak savannah ecoregion. The ecoregion historically featured native bunch grasses and forbs among groupings of trees, primarily post oaks (Quercus stellata), cottonwoods (Populus sp.), hackberries (Celtis occidentalis), sycamores (Platanus occidentalis), and pecans (Carya illinoisensis). The native landscape offered a transition between the open prairie regions to the north, west, and south, and the pine forests to the east. The native grasses that attracted early cattle herders for its grazing opportunities included bluestem (Andropogon sp.), grama (Bouteloua sp.), and curly mesquite grass (Hilaria belangeri).8

Densely wooded riparian corridors threaded the landscape and included “thorny trees” that were likely mesquite (Prosopis sp.) or honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos).9 The riparian areas along the branches of the Little Brazos and Sulphur Creek extended up to 260-feet-wide before the land was converted to cultivation. 10 They provided timber and game to the Bassett family and tenants, as well as shade for grazing cattle.

The Little Brazos and Sulphur Creek have helped maintain the farm in its present condition. The local sources of fresh water offered respite from the region’s dry weather, allowing for year-round farm and livestock operations. However, a series of flood events and other extreme weather over the past two centuries has impacted the land via continued streambank erosion throughout the riparian corridors.

The locations of many of the historic springs at Home Place are either unknown or have dried up. Three extant springs are documented at Bassett Farms: Henry Bassett’s spring at Home Place, a well at the former tenant homestead site at Blum Place, and Sulphur Spring that was located on a 10-acre tract of the Hirshfield Farm.”11

In addition to the streambank erosion, intensive farming practices that focused on cash crops like cotton during the early 20th century and heavy grazing into the mid-twentieth century exasperated soil depletion.12 In the early days of the environmental movement in the 1960s, land management and soil conservation experts were recommending the dispersal of stock tanks (see: Constructed Water Features) across ranches to encourage a rotational grazing system that would cycle herds through a property and avoid overgrazing.

Most of the native vegetation has been lost due to cultivation. Farming and grazing practices also allowed for the introduction of invasive shrubs and trees into the natural system. A select number of former crop fields have been replanted with native forbs and grasses as part of a prairie restoration effort. See Vegetation for additional information on the existing flora at Bassett Farms.

The riparian corridors maintain a dense a canopy along the banks of the Little Brazos and Sulphur Creek where the native flora remained less effected by the intensive farming and grazing that occurred between the last 19th century and now.

11 Preservation Texas. Overview, 11.

12 Preservation Texas. Overview, 34.

Natural Systems

Upper: Invasive vegetation in former agricultural and grazing areas (MIG 2021)

Lower: Invasive vegetation in former agricultural and grazing areas (MIG 2021)

Bassett Farms Cultural Landscape Report | Section Two: Landscape Characteristics Analysis & Evaluation

Upper: Stand of native post oak trees (MIG 2021)

Lower: Riparian corridor (MIG 2021)

The three-dimensional organization of physical forms and visual associations in the landscape, including the articulation of ground, vertical, and overhead planes that define and create spaces.

Settlement and surveying of the area around Kosse began as early as the 1850s by a speculator named B.J. Chambers. He began selling parcels in 1869 after the projected route for the Central Railroad expansion became known and local property values skyrocketed.13

Kosse was incorporated in 1871, and a bustling depot town was established during the six-month period in which it served as the terminus for the Houston & Texas Central Railroad while the route was being extended to Dallas.14

During the same period as Kosse’s incorporation, Henry Bassett emigrated to Texas and acquired 160 acres (Home Place) in Limestone County to establish a farm. He expanded west into Falls County after purchasing additional acreage from a neighbor.

After the initial building boom in Kosse calmed and the terminus for the railroad relocated, Henry Bassett was able to expand south of Home Place in 1880-1881. The land was located across the historic Kosse-Marlin Road and has been continually used as pasture for the Bassett cattle and horse herds, ideal for grazing due to its location along the southern branch of Sulphur Creek. The pasture was located between Bassett Farms and the adjacent Hopewell Freedom Colony.15

13 Preservation Texas. Overview, 25.

14 Preservation Texas. Overview, 26.

15 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 27.

Henry Bassett expanded the farm acre by acre until his death in 1889. Afterwards, his widow, Hattie Basset, continued to acquire neighboring farms and became a prominent local landowner. She expanded Bassett Farms through the acquisition of Blum Place to the east, and Mathis and Vann Places to the west and north during the 1890s, and Hirshfield Farm in 1903.16 She continued to expand her land holdings during the first two decades of the 20th century by purchasing several parcels that were part of Hopewell Freedom Colony to the south after residents moved away, and eventually became the richest woman in Limestone County due to her cotton empire. This period of expansion saw Bassett Farms grow into one of the largest farming operations in the region.

Throughout her management of Bassett Farms, Hattie Bassett maintained an open lawn or entry yard in front of the Bassett Farmhouse, a garden to the east side of the front yard, and a chicken and turkey yard along the west façade of Bassett House. These areas were not put into cotton production and were separated from the farm operations by a fence and distinct vegetation. The size and openness of the front yard at Home Place signaled the prominence of Bassett Farms in the area. Barns, garages, and sheds that supported farm operations were sited behind the farmhouse away from the main road or were screened from public view by vegetation.

Neighboring farmsteads acquired by Henry and Hattie Basset, as well as homes and wells constructed by the Bassett Family for the purposes of leasing to tenants, were located throughout the Bassett property. They were leased to tenant farmers who managed lands within Bassett Farms.

16 Preservation Texas. Hirshfield Farm, 1.

Unlike the Bassett domestic core, tenant homesteads were typically compact and located immediately adjacent to the road, so as not to ‘waste’ any land that could be put into production. Ideally, they were located near a branch of Sulphur Creek or a spring so that tenants could easily access water for domestic and agricultural use. The homesteads were accessed via farm roads that typically connected to the Kosse-Marlin Road.

Bassett Farms

The spatial organization of Bassett Farms has not changed since the end of the historic period. The boundaries and organization of the farm stabilized during Hattie Bassett’s management of the property and was maintained by the tenants, her son, and granddaughters through the 1970s.

Bassett Farms remains connected to the town of Kosse via county roads. Home Place is the heart of the property and is undergoing active rehabilitation, while the former agricultural and grazing lands lie largely abandoned since the Bassetts themselves and many of the tenants relocated after the historic period. Though many of the agricultural lands are not used as intensively as they were during Hattie Bassett’s management, the land divisions of these areas are generally intact.

The large lawn in front of Bassett Farmhouse is extant and continues to mark the historical importance of the home. An ornamental metal fence, installed by Hattie Bassett’s granddaughters, delineates the domestic core area.

Where extant, the tenant farms are in disrepair since Bassett Farms has reduced operations. Many have been demolished or are in ruin. The sites are identified by road traces, wells, and other infrastructure that indicates former habitation.

The principal activities in the landscape that have formed, shaped, or organized the landscape as a result of human interaction.

The land use patterns during the historic period at Bassett Farms were cyclical. Beginning with open ranges and ending with stock raising, the most common historic thread is livestock.

Early settlers in Limestone and Falls Counties focused on raising cattle and horses, and farming was limited to subsistence needs. Before the railroad arrived, the lack of transportation networks meant that crops had little commercial value, whereas cattle could be driven over land, and the native grasslands and available water systems provided excellent sustenance for the animals.17

Cattle herding and grazing took the form of the “open range”. Cattle were driven by herdsmen once a year to their pens for branding to distinguish them from their neighbors but otherwise roamed the land.18 When Bassett Farms was established in 1871, stock raising was its principal operations and it remained so for the remainder of Henry Bassett’s life. Wood fencing separated the open range from the Bassett’s residence (see Small-Scale Features) and kept the animals from entering the domestic core at Bassett Home Place.

When barbed wire was patented and introduced in the region, the economic focus of Falls and Limestone counties shifted from cattle to crop farming. Landowners were able to maintain and control smaller herds within partitioned pastures and converted much of their rangeland to cotton or hay fields.19

17 Preservation Texas. Overview, 23, 25.

18 Preservation Texas. Overview, 25.

After Henry’s death, Hattie Bassett expanded Bassett farms to the west, north, and east (Vann, Mathis, and Blum Places respectively) and put former pastures into cotton production, managed largely by tenant farmers. Cotton production in east Texas began losing value as a cash crop during the depression when the price dropped, and federal policies and incentives turned farmers away from cotton growing. Yet cotton production continued at Bassett Farms until Hattie Bassett’s death in 1936. The practice continued in limited form for some years after but was finally abandoned under Willie Ford Bassett’s tenure (Hattie Bassett’s son) in the 1960s, and the land was gradually returned to pastures.

In 1922, oil was discovered on land adjacent to Bassett Farms, resulting in a mini-oil boom and temporary increase in population in and around Kosse. Exploratory wells were drilled at the Bassett’s Town Place in 1922 and at Blum Place in 1926. While the wells resulted in income via oil leases, none became big producers, and they were eventually abandoned by the family.

When Hattie Bassett died, Willie Ford Bassett began phasing out cotton production and expanded the farm’s cattle and pig stock operations. Under Willie’s management, the farm transitioned back to a predominantly livestock-based business, and most of the land at Bassett Farms, Blum Place, and Hirshfield Farm was returned to grazing.

19 Preservation Texas. Overview, 33.

During Henry and Hattie Bassett’s shared tenure in the 1870s-80s, butter churning was a source of income for the Bassetts. Butter was produced for the family and excess product was shipped to Galveston via the Central Railroad.20 Hattie maintained this practice throughout her life.

She also maintained a large garden and a flock of turkeys within the domestic core, separate from the cattle and cotton operations on the farm. The Bassett House remained the primary family residence through Willie Ford Bassett’s life.

Pockets of domestic life dotted the landscape throughout Bassett Farms in the form of small residential clusters occupied by tenant farmers and ranchers who leased land from the Bassett family. While Home Place maintained clear boundaries between farm life and domestic life in the form of the front lawn and other vegetation and fencing patterns, tenant homesteads were typically tucked away along farms roads and sited immediately adjacent to the edge of, or even within, the fields or pasture. Yet each homestead included a residence and a few domestic outbuildings or structures such as an outhouse, and a well or pump house.

Willie Ford Bassett was the last Bassett to permanently reside at Bassett Farms. When he died in 1967, his daughters managed the farm remotely by leasing most of the land to ranchers for grazing while maintaining only a small herd of their own. Grazing continues at Blum Place and Hirshfield Farm through rental agreements.

Willie Ford Bassett’s daughters continued to negotiate oil and gas leases at Bassett Farms after their father’s death. A natural gas well and tank was installed in the pasture area south of the Kosse-Marlin Road around 1980 and is serviced by a farm road with a bridge over Sulphur Creek.

No physical evidence remains of the former oil wells at Blum Place.

Willie Ford Bassett’s daughters inherited Bassett Farms after his death. They did not live at the farm but visited Home Place occasionally to retreat from urban life in Dallas. As a result, domestic life at Home Place transitioned to weekend farming or hobby farming. Most of the farm outbuildings at Home Place were abandoned as they were no longer required for operational purposes.

After Willie Ford Bassett’s death, tenants continued to live and work at Bassett Farms. As farm operations dwindled so did care and maintenance for the tenant homesteads. Former tenant residences within Blum Place were eventually abandoned, and then either demolished or allowed to fall into ruin. Only minor physical remnants of domestic life remain extant.

Since 2012, Preservation Texas has begun to rehabilitate buildings and structures at Home Place for new use. Those activities are also serving as a launching point for educational opportunities focused on the history of the place and conservation practices.

Bassett Farms Cultural Landscape Report | Section Two: Landscape Characteristics Analysis & Evaluation

Land Use

Upper: Pasture area with cattle (MIG 2021)

Lower: Pasture area with fencing (MIG 2021)

Upper left: Ruin on tenant site (MIG 2021)

Upper right: Well on tenant site (MIG 2021)

Lower: Fencing on tenant site (MIG 2021)

The spaces, features, and applied material finishes which constitute systems of movement in a landscape.

Due to its large size, circulation is a critical component in the management, use, and physical development of Bassett Farms.

Railroad

When the Central Railroad established a terminus station in Kosse in 1871, it resulted in a mini population boom and Kosse functioned as a temporary frontier town, providing access to populations and goods to its north, west, and east. When the line was expanded and Kosse was no longer the terminus, the population settled into a small town with a post office and depot that served local counties. Stockmen used the railroad to transport cattle to market, constituting the bulk of the continued railroad economy in the town.21

Henry Bassett arrived in Kosse right after the local railroad was established. The railroad made it possible for the Bassetts and their tenants to purchase and ship farm products to coastal markets. The rail line connected Kosse to Houston and from there to Galveston, New Orleans, and other major gulf ports, facilitating commercial agriculture.22

Before and immediately after the railroad arrived in Kosse, stage roads were used to connect the town to more populous communities. Henry Bassett built the Bassett Farmhouse 200 feet from a stage route that was later improved as a regional transportation route between the towns of Kosse and Marlin (the county seat of

21 Preservation Texas. Overview, 30.

22 Preservation Texas. Overview, 26.

Falls County) and became known as the KosseMarlin Road, roughly aligned with present day Limestone County Road 666/Falls County Road 243. 23

The Kosse-Marlin Road was well-traveled but remained largely unimproved until the 20th century. It crossed the branch of Sulphur Creek near the Bassett House and a bridge of wood planks was constructed.24 A similarly maintained and traveled road aligning with current day County Road 244 was laid out around 1883, bisecting a neighboring farm.25

The Kosse oil boom of 1922 resulted in another period of increased traffic to and from the town, and Falls County undertook additional improvements to the Kosse-Marlin Road.26 In the early 1950s, it was re-directed at a diagonal across the southwest portion of Home Place, and a new concrete bridge was constructed over Sulphur Creek.27

When State Highway 7 opened in 1952, the Kosse-Marlin Road saw a significant reduction in traffic.

A loop driveway can be seen in aerial views of Home Place in aerial photographs from the 1940s. It originated at the Kosse-Marlin Road and created a circle drive in the yard in front of Bassett House before looping back to the original entry point. Another informal drive can be seen leading from the Kosse-Marlin Road, slightly to the west of the entry drive, around the rear of Bassett House towards the barn and other rear outbuildings.28 The loop drive appears to connect to the informal drive around 1955, eventually losing its loop formation.

23 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 10.

24 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 25.

25 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 27.

26 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 48.

27 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 55.

28 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 54-55.

The tenant farms, stock ponds, and oil wells located throughout Bassett Farms would have been accessed by farm roads. Unlike the state highway system or the County Roads, farm roads were maintained by the property owners and tenants and are not formal roads.29 Some were paved in gravel, while others were comprised of compacted soil and resembled two-track paths. Most were accessed via the Kosse-Marlin Road or County Road 244.

The well-traveled farm roads often traced historic parcel boundaries or fence lines that separated pastures. Others cut directly across fields or pastures to reach their destination and only evolved into farm roads through continual use.

The original wood plank bridge was built over Sulphur Creek along the Kosse-Marlin Road during the 19th century railroad boom in Kosse, when the road provided an important connection to populations to the west. The bridge was improved several times as travel increased along the county road, including during the mini oil boom of the 1920s.

Additional modest wood plank bridges were built along farm roads within Bassett Farms to provide crossings over the branches of Sulphur Creek.

All the historic character-defining circulation features at Bassett Farms remain extant in a limited or altered capacity.

The railroad tracks remain extant in Kosse.

Present day Limestone County Road 666/ Falls County Road 243 and County Road 244 continue to serve local populations in the region and are integrated with the state highway and interstate systems.

The Kosse-Marlin Road is the primary route of access for reaching Home Place.

The entry drive that looped through the front yard in the 20th century and then connected to the informal rear yard access drive was abandoned around the time metal fencing was installed around the house, around 1970, as the west edge of the fence follows the now prominent rear access driveway. The rear access road now functions as the primary driveway for Home Place. Its wider than many of the farm roads, but still not a formal two-lane road, though it can accommodate vehicular traffic going both directions. It consists of compacted soil and gravel.

The farm roads are fewer than they were during the historic period but continue to be used to traverse the property and provide access to stock ponds and tenant home sites. They are one-lane wide and primarily compacted soil, though some contain portions of compacted gravel as well. One farm road is extant connecting Home Place to the former tenant homestead site at Blum Place and continuing on to a stock pond. Other farm roads are visible through the pastures south of the Kosse-Marlin Road. The farm road that leads through the pasture to a former well site at Hirshfield Farm contains a washed-out plank bridge. Many other former farm road alignments are grown over, but often demarcated by rows of trees or broken fence lines.

The historic wood bridge along present day Limestone County Road 666 (historic MarlinKosse Road) was replaced with a concrete bridge at an unknown date.

The wood plank bridges that were built over Sulphur Creek along the farm roads have not been maintained are largely non-extant, limiting vehicular access to perimeter areas of the farm. One wood plank bridge remains in dilapidated condition near the southern boundary of Hirshfield Farm.

Circulation

Upper left: Kosse-Marlin Road (MIG 2021)

Upper right: County Road 243 (MIG 2021)

Lower: Home Place Entry Drive (MIG 2021)

Circulation

Upper left: Example of loose gravel farm road (MIG 2021)

Upper right: Example of mow-cleared farm road in Riparian area (MIG 2021)

Lower: Example of mow-cleared farm road in former pasture and cultivation area (MIG 2021)

Circulation

Upper: Gate installed along fence line to facilitate circulation via farm roads between pasture areas (MIG 2021)

Lower: Washed out bridge over Sulphur Creek (MIG 2021)

Circulation

Upper: Washed out bridge over Sulphur Creek (MIG 2021)

Lower: Wood remnants of historic-era bridge over Sulphur Creek on the Kosse-Marlin Road (MIG 2021)

Deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers and herbaceous plants, and plant communities, whether indigenous or introduced in the landscape.

Bassett Farms is an agricultural landscape and as such, vegetation tends to mirror land use, following the same cyclical pattern described earlier in Land Use.

During its initial establishment, Bassett Farms maintained the open grass and woodlands that was characteristic of early stock herding operations in the region. Before the introduction of barbed wire fencing changed the landscape (see Small Scale Features), rows of bois d’arc were planted on the open range to protect crops or other areas from cattle. This line of trees created a thick, thorny hedge that was difficult to bypass.30

The soil east of the Little Brazos River proved fertile, and Henry Bassett was able to establish crops.31 He farmed 50 acres of corn and 50 acres of cotton and managed a peach orchard with 100 trees. He and Hattie also kept cattle, dairy cows, and poultry, as market farming in the region was minimal. Where it existed, the primary crops included potatoes, sweet potatoes, watermelon, pecans, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, and berries.32

The arrival of barbed wire in 1876 helped farmers maintain both stock and crops. Farms in and near Kosse were able to increase their output of cash crops, and as Bassett Farms expanded in size cotton production became its primary commercial operation. Limestone County was the leading producer of cotton in Texas in 1912 and reached its peak around 1930.33 Varieties of cotton grown included Mexican big boll, its successor Texas big boll, and Texas storm-proof types. Farmers in the 20th century also experimented with Lankart, Rowden, and Mebane types. 34 The only areas of Bassett Farms that were never used for cotton production include the domestic core at Home Place, and the 306-acre pasture directly across the KosseMarlin Road from Home Place that was acquired by Henry Bassett in 1880 and used continuously through the 1960s to grow hay for the Bassett family’s cattle.35

30 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 3.

31 Preservation Texas. Overview, 21.

32 Preservation Texas. Overview, 33.

Hattie Bassett and most of the tenant farmers cultivated cotton well into the 1930s. However, as the value of cotton decreased, and after Hattie Bassett’s death in 1936, Willie Ford Bassett began experimenting with other types of agricultural income, including converting a parcel west of Home Place to corn production. Ultimately, he decided to focus on expanding Bassett Farm’s cattle and pig stock and much of the former cotton fields were converted to pasture and/or hay production. As the farm returned to grazing in the 1940s, the Bassett Family installed stock tanks throughout the property. Bermuda grass was used to stabilize the stock pond spillways.

Hattie Bassett and later Willie Ford Bassett maintained a large kitchen garden on a slightly elevated terrace on the eastern side of the front yard of Bassett House.36 Though Willie Ford Bassett eventually let the garden fall into neglect, a letter from his daughter in 1964 indicates he was still growing small-batch crops (including cantaloupes, tomatoes, and peaches) either in the garden or elsewhere on the property.

33 Preservation Texas. Overview, 31-32.

34 Preservation Texas. Overview, 32.

35 Preservation Texas. Homeplace, 27.

36 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 39.

The area around Bassett House was either maintained or planted with specimen trees to provide visual framing and/or screening and provide shade to keep the residence cool during the long Texas summers. Rows or groupings of post oaks and pecan trees were maintained along the sides and rear of Bassett House, while rows of trees were also planted along the fence lines and roads near Home Place. An open lawn area was maintained in front Bassett House. In addition to the post oaks and pecans, some tree species that were likely planted in the domestic area during the historic period based on what is extant today include: Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila), Arizona ash (Fraxinus velatina), live oak (Quercus virginiana), blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica), mulberry (Morus sp.), and hackberry.

Few major interventions have taken place in the agricultural areas of Bassett Farms since the historic period; rather, the lands have been largely abandoned and a mix of native and invasive flora has begun to creep back into the formerly grazed and cultivated landscape. The notable exception is that 150 acres of former crop landscapes have been planted with native forbs and grasses to restore native habitat through a partnership with Texas Parks and Wildlife, and some areas are grazed through a rental agreement.37

Small trees and shrubs begin to appear in the pasture areas near Home Place based on a 1952 aerial photograph and expanded in the area through the 1970s. A combination of overgrazing and general neglect led to a proliferation of woody species in the formerly cultivated areas. Remnants of bois d’arc hedges are located throughout Bassett Farms, delineating early pastures and property lines.38

37 Bassett Farms Conservancy. Site History. n.d.

38 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 3.

The riparian corridors and woodlands have also expanded into the formerly open range and cotton fields, with trees that include a mix of native post oak woods including blackjack oak and black hickory (Carya texana), and invasive mesquite and honey locusts. The understory includes yaupon (Ilex vomitoria), eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), and American beautyberry (Calicarpa americana).39

Hattie Bassett’s kitchen garden is no longer extant, though the area remains largely clear and functions as an extension of the lawn in front of Bassett House. The groupings and rows of mature post oak and pecan trees around Bassett House and throughout the Home Place date to the historic period or reflect historic vegetation patterns.40 However, trees and other shrubs began crowding the domestic core at Home Place during Willie Ford Bassett’s tenure as farm manager and changed the spatial organization and views/vistas of the residence towards the end of and after the historic period.

The most dramatic changes in the vegetation within Home Place took place at the end and after the historic period, when Willie Ford’s daughters began to use the house as a weekend retreat and expanded the ornamental plantings in the domestic core. When Zelma Bassett (Willie Ford’s oldest daughter) oversaw the construction of a new porch at the Bassett House in 1964, she also planted flower beds in front of the house. In the 1970s, when metal fencing and water utilities were installed at the farmstead, Willie Ford Sparkman (Willie Ford Bassett’s second daughter) oversaw the planting of the flowering trees along the road and driveway, included crepe myrtles, pomegranates, cherry laurels, pears, and quinces.41

39 Preservation Texas. Overview, 8.

40 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 43.

41 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 64.

Bassett Farms Cultural Landscape Report | Section Two: Landscape Characteristics Analysis & Evaluation

Upper: Former agricultural and grazing areas (MIG 2021)

Lower: Former agricultural and grazing areas (MIG 2021)

Upper: Location of Hattie Bassett’s garden during the historic period (MIG 2021)

Lower: Lawn area in front of Bassett House (MIG 2021)

Bassett Farms Cultural Landscape Report | Section Two: Landscape Characteristics Analysis & Evaluation

Vegetation

A building, such as a house, barn, church, hotel, or similar construction, is created principally to shelter any form of human activity. The term “structure” is used to distinguish from buildings those functional constructions made usually for purposes other than creating human shelter.

The buildings and structures at Bassett Farms comprise a mix of residential and operational buildings. The operational buildings reflect the agricultural land use on the property and are vernacular in style, evolving based on their functional qualities within the commercial context of the farm. The Bassett House is notable for its reflection of prominence and wealth of the family and the classical revival architectural style.

Henry Bassett oversaw the construction of the Bassett House c. 1875. He selected a site approximately 400 feet east of the north branch of Sulphur Creek and set back 200 feet from the Kosse-Marlin Road.42 The two-story brick house featured a one-story front porch that spanned the width of its south façade, overlooking the front lawn towards the road. The porch columns and entry system expressed Greek Revival influences.

The relatively expensive brick construction material and classical style elements at the primary façade departed from the traditional log cabins in the region and is attributed to the influence of the Mrs. Hattie Ford Bassett, who had grown up in a slave-owning family on an agricultural plantation in Mississippi.43

Bassett House was designed to capture seasonal breezes and large trees were planted along its west and rear sides to help keep the house cool.

42 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 10.

43 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 9.

These basic principles of form and orientation were typical of rural farmsteads in the region, including in the siting and construction of the tenant houses associated with Bassett Farms.44

Serving as the primary Bassett family residence for the almost 100-year period of significance, Bassett House underwent several periods of alteration and improvement during the historic period. The changes reflect updates in available technology, a growing family, and the priorities of the primary caretaker tasked with managing the domestic core at Home Place. A two-room brick ell was added to rear of the Bassett house in the 1880s, likely replacing an earlier kitchen wing in the same location. An exterior porch extended the house’s front hall along the east edge of the ell.45 After Henry’s death in 1889, Hattie oversaw several changes to the Bassett House including the installation of modern lamp fixtures around 1900, a new two-story porch with porch swing around 1916, and the enclosure of the second story of the porch as a screened in sleeping porch around 1920.46 She also installed a white picket fence around the residence during this period.

Electricity and new appliances were installed at the Bassett House under Willie Ford Bassett’s tenure prior to 1949.47 Additional improvements occurred between in the following decades, including a new two-story porch and a new twostory bathroom addition at the east end of the rear façade of the front mass. Interior paneling was also likely installed during this period.

Zelda Bassett, Willie Ford’s oldest daughter continued to improve the house in the 1960s while she resided in Dallas. She hired a contractor to repair the foundation and the walls of Bassett House and oversaw the construction of a stepped brick patio and brick central pathway in front of the porch.

44 Preservation Texas. Overview, 11-12.

45 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 19.

46 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 40.

47 The date electricity arrived at Bassett Farms is unknown and may have occurred as early as 1935. It is known to have existed on site by 1949 when the family installed new electrical appliances at Bassett House. Preservation Texas. Home Place, 38, 53.

A collection of farm outbuildings was clustered within Home Place. They supported farm operations and were located behind the Bassett House or to its east near the banks of Sulphur Creek. They were shielded from view so as not to infringe upon the prominent siting of the Bassett House. The outbuildings have gone through several phases of style and function, depending on the operational needs of the farm and the families living there.

During the 1870s and 1880s, Henry Bassett used brick to construct a dairy building immediately behind Bassett House, where the family kept a couple of dairy cows and churned butter; the underground cistern to collect rainwater with a wood pump house on top of it (see Constructed Water Features); and brick wells along Sulphur Creek at both Home Place and Blum Place.48 The location of the dairy and the cistern so close to the house indicate they may have been constructed before the rear kitchen ell was added.

The bricks used by Henry appear to have been manufactured locally. In 1877 a brick and tile company opened in Kosse. The bricks produced at the Kosse factory were used extensively to build out the commercial center in town until the factory closed in the 1880s. A light colored hexagonal tile, known to have been produced at the Kosse factory, has been found in various locations around the Bassett House, among a host of different brick types and styles.49

Multiple generations of barns have been constructed at Bassett Farms. The original barn, built by Henry Bassett in the 1870s or 1880s, was located behind Bassett House to the northwest and was a wood barn built in the English style organized along a central aisle. The original barn was expanded over the years, with a shed on its southern side for equipment storage and another extension to the north.50 It was destroyed in a fire in 1936, and a smaller wood frame hay barn was built at the same location.

Two additional wood barns, smaller in scale, were added to Home Place by Hattie Bassett around 1900 as farm operations were expanding rapidly through land acquisition. Two more wood barns were built by Willie Ford Bassett around 1950s in the wooded pasture west of Bassett House, near the banks of Sulphur Creek, and in the pasture south of Kosse-Marlin Road.

Revenue from oil leases in the 1970s saw the construction of several metal farm outbuildings where former wood buildings were failing, including a replacement hay barn o the site of the original barn and the small barn west of Bassett House, constructed by Willie Ford Bassett, near the road.

The Bassett cottonseed shed was constructed around 1895 when Hattie Bassett was expanding the farms cotton production exponentially. The building was used to store cottonseed from the previous year’s crop. A wood framed shed with vertical board-and-batten siding under a steep end-gabled roof, the building was tall and narrow with an opening towards the top of one wall that allowed for seed to be added to the top of the pile stored at the interior. Interior wall planks were used to protect the building’s structure from outward pressure and reduce 50 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 23.

stress on the framing. Given its dimensions, it’s estimated that the structure could hold up to ten tons of weight in cottonseed. A lean-to shed was added to the cottonseed at an unknown date, but was removed in 2021 when the cottonseed shed was restored. Tenant farmers would visit homeplace to purchase or borrow cottonseed from the Bassett family. Originally located closer to the Bassett House, the cottonseed shed was relocated to the perimeter of Home Place to accommodate the construction of the garage in 1955.51

Hattie Bassett added what is thought to be a curing shed and a carriage house (location unknown) to Home Place around 1900.

During the 1920s, Hattie Bassett constructed a new building on the west side of the front yard that had wood shingle siding. It’s unconfirmed how the Bassett family used the building, but it’s possible it served as a farm office.

The windmill was replaced with a corrugated pump house near the Basset House well after electricity was extended to the property between ca.1935 and 1949.52

The domestic core at Home Place was expanded when the garage was constructed in its current location in 1955.53 Some farm outbuildings were removed to accommodate the garage, while others, such as the cottonseed shed, were relocated to the perimeter of the yard.

When Blum Place was sold to Henry Bassett in 1887, two tenant farms were included in the acquisition. Receipts from that year also included substantial building materials for barbed wire fencing and other tenant improvements.

51 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 30-31.

52 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 38.

53 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 31.

One of the tenant homesteads is represented by a cluster of collapsed buildings and structures along the farm road that leads to the stock tank at Blum Place today. As with most tenant homesteads at Bassett Farms, the complex likely included a house, an outhouse, a barn, and a smokehouse.54

Upon the death of her husband in 1888, Hattie Bassett continued to acquire land and grow cotton production. As her landholdings grew, Hattie oversaw the construction of new tenant homes to rent to farm laborers or the improvement of existing facilities.55 She had a new tenant home constructed, including a new well, at Blum Place in 1890.56 Unlike the Bassett residence, tenant complexes were typically built close to the road to maximize the area available for cultivation. At the turn of the 20th century Bassett Farms housed as many as forty tenant families on the property.57 Tenant houses were built and maintained through the 1950s.

Henry and Hattie Bassett oversaw the construction of a school on one acre south of Home Place in 1885, within the pasture tract acquired for the Bassett cattle and horse herds. Bassett Farms was incorporated into the Kosse Independent School District during the early 20th century and the school was abandoned by 1918. The school building is non-extant.

The oil boom of the 1920 saw the drilling of several oil wells at Bassett family properties, including within the cotton fields and pastures at Blum Place. Derricks were built atop the well.

54 Preservation Texas. Blum Place, 4.

55 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 34.

56 Preservation Texas. Blum Place, 5.

57 Preservation Texas. Overview, 6.

The general number and arrangement of buildings and structures at Home Place stabilized in the 1960s, although several wood outbuildings dating to the historic period were replaced with metal buildings in the 1970s.

The last permanent resident of Bassett House was Willie Ford Bassett. After his death in 1967, his daughters visited the house but did not live there.

Bassett House was mothballed in 2019, and work was begun on interior and exteriors renovation in 2021. 58 The two-story porch was restored to early 20th century conditions, and the stepped brick patio at the front of the house was removed.

Several of the 19th century brick buildings and structures built by Henry Bassett remain intact at Bassett Farms. In additional to the main Bassett residence (Bassett House), two wells, the cistern at Bassett House, and the dairy building are representative of this early phase of development.

The dairy has been altered since its initial use as a dairy, though these alterations likely occurred during the historic period. The building appears to have been used as storage or as a play house for Bassett children.

The metal barns installed in the 1970s are intact. Electricity has been extended to the hay barn, 58 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 73.

the floor has been paved with gravel, and a gutter system was installed.59

Only one wood pole barn remains intact in the wooded field west of Bassett House.

The cottonseed shed built around 1895 was relocated during the historic period but remains extant. It was rehabilitated in 2021. The structure is thought to be one of the last surviving structures of its kind in Texas.

The curing shed built around 1900 was relocated during the historic period but remains extant. It was rehabilitated, at the same time the cottonseed shed was restored, in 2021 and together they represent the period of heavy cotton production overseen by Hattie Bassett during the early part of the 20th century.

The corrugated metal pump house near the brick well at Bassett House is extant but nonfunctional.

The ca. 1950s garage was converted to two apartments in 2018 and septic was installed.60

Tenants remained at Bassett Farms after Willie Ford Bassett’s death, though numbers dwindled as farm operations waned. The former tenant homesteads at Blum Place are nearly non-extant, but are demarcated by wells, farm road traces, and other remains of farm-related infrastructure.

Tenant homes and outbuildings are extant in other areas of the extended acreage of Bassett

59 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 73. 60 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 73.

Farms Conservancy, but are not the subject of this CLR. They will be addressed in future reports.

Most of the above ground oil wells infrastructure, such as derricks, were temporary in nature and do not remain intact at Bassett Farms. However, gas leases remained lucrative through the 1970s and allowed the Bassett granddaughters to upgrade farm outbuildings at Home Place. An additional natural gas well was installed in the south pasture around 1981 and is accessed via an unimproved road.

Bassett Farms Cultural Landscape Report

| Section Two: Landscape Characteristics Analysis & Evaluation

Buildings and Structures

Upper: Bassett House after recent porch restoration (Preservation Texas 2022)

Bassett Farms Cultural Landscape Report | Section Two: Landscape Characteristics Analysis & Evaluation

Buildings and Structures

Upper: Metal Pole Barn (MIG 2021)

Lower: Metal Hay Barn (MIG 2021)

Buildings and Structures

Upper: Wood Pole Barn (MIG 2021)

Lower left: Cottonseed Shed (Preservation Texas 2022)

Lower right: Shed C (Preservation Texas 2022)

Bassett Farms Cultural Landscape Report | Section Two: Landscape Characteristics Analysis & Evaluation

Buildings and Structures

Upper: Equipment Shed (MIG 2021)

Lower: Garage Apartments (MIG 2021)

Buildings and Structures

Upper: Ruin of tenant farm building or structure at Blum Place (MIG 2021)

Lower: Example of standing tenant building at Town Place on Parcel 4 (MIG 2021)

Historical constructed forms for water retention and conveyance for utilitarian and/or aesthetic functions, typically occurring as part of a larger system.

Constructed water features at Bassett Farm are generally divided into two categories of use: agricultural (ie: irrigation or stock tanks) and domestic use. See Natural Systems for the rivers, creeks, and springs that characterize the landscape. The following features are listed in the general chronological order in which they were installed on the property.

Along Sulphur Creek to the northwest of Bassett House, Henry Bassett built a brick-lined cylindrical well with a diameter of 32 inches and a depth of 20 feet. Initially, water was drawn via a bucket-rope-pulley system. The sulphuric content of the water made it unsuitable for domestic use, but appropriate for agricultural uses.61 Similar wells are found near tenant homestead sites in Blum Place and Hirschfield Place.

In the 1890s, the Bassetts installed a windmill and gravity-fed elevated water tank near the brick well at Home Place to replace the bucket and pulley system. This allowed them to be more efficient in distributing water to livestock and for other agricultural uses.62 When electricity arrived at Bassett Farms perhaps as early as 1935, an electric pump was installed in a small, corrugated metal pump house at the well site.

An underground bell-shaped brick cistern was located directly behind the Bassett House to collect and provide drinking water for the Bassett family. The cistern is estimated to be between 12 and 15 feet deep and was fed by water collected via gutters on the Bassett House rear addition and then carried through a shallow brick trough just below ground before emptying into the cistern.63

61 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 24.

62 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 36-37.

A square frame building was constructed over the cistern that likely housed a water pump; A bell tower was affixed to the roof. The cistern provided the Bassett family with water through the 1960s.64 Dates of construction for the cistern and pump house are unknown, but both are identified in photos taken of the property in the 1920s and it’s possible they date to Henry Bassett’s tenure as farm manager due to his preference for constructing brick features throughout the farm.

The return of stock to Bassett Farms during the 1940s led the Bassetts to construct at least twenty stock tanks throughout the property. The large stock tank at the north end of Home Place was installed around 1939 within former cotton fields and reflects the transition that took place at the farm after Hattie Bassett’s death. As Willie Ford Bassett continued to transition land from cotton production back to grazing, he installed new stock tanks through the 1960s. The midsize stock tank installed within Sulphur Creek’s riparian area immediately behind the domestic core of Home Place was built around 1965.65

Stock tanks were formed by creating an earthen dam to restrict the flow of runoff water during major rainfall events that would otherwise have flowed into Sulphur Creek or the Little Brazos River. In addition to providing water for livestock, these ponds were stocked with fish and provided habitat for waterfowl, attracted game, and could also be used to fight fires. Typically, stock tanks were

63 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 21.

64 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 21.

65 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 57.

EXISTING CONDITION

Stock Tanks

Updated Irrigation and Water Distribution System

66 Preservation Texas. Overview, 36.

67 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 7.

68 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 37.

69 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 62.

Upper left: Well site in Home Place (MIG 2021)

Upper right: Well site in Blum Place (MIG 2021)

Lower: Corrugated metal pump house in Home Place near site of former windmill (Preservation Texas)

Constructed Water Features

Upper: Example of stock pond in Home Place (MIG 2021)

Lower: Example of stock pond in Blum Place (MIG 2021)

The prospect afforded by a range of vision in the landscape, conferred by the composition of other landscapes characteristics and associated features. Views and vistas are distinguished as follows. Views are the expansive and/or panoramic prospect of a broad range of vision which may be naturally occurring or deliberately contrived. Vistas are the controlled prospect of a discrete, linear range of vision, which is deliberately contrived.

The intentional siting of Bassett House set-back from the Kosse-Marlin Road emphasized privacy and minimized the impact of the dirt and noise generated by the well-traveled but unimproved road.

The house’s position also afforded passers-by a broad prospect of the house that reinforced a sense of grandeur associated with the prominent Bassett family. The front yard created by the depth of the set-back also reinforced that image by indicating that the family could afford to remove the land from active agricultural use.70 Vegetation and small-scale features were kept to a minimum in the front yard during the historic period to maintain the vista.

The view to and from Bassett House remains largely open and somewhat unobstructed, with the exception of a tree line that crowds the north edge of the historic Kosse-Marlin Road alignment. The lawn area remains open and largely free of vegetation and small-scale features.

Views and Vistas

Upper: View from second floor of the Bassett House to County Road (MIG 2021)

Lower: View from County Road towards the Bassett House (MIG 2021)

The elements which provide detail and diversity for both functional needs and aesthetic concerns in the landscape.

Before barbed wire was introduced in east Texas, “Virginia” or “snake” fences (stacked timber posts, often arranged in a zig-zag line) were typically used to separate domestic areas and crops from the open range. The fences were constructed of local oak, cedar, or elm, but were time and labor-intensive to build and maintain. It’s unknown how heavily Henry Bassett relied on this fence type during the early years of Bassett Farms, but it’s likely that he constructed primitive versions of wood fencing to protect the acres he dedicated to corn, cotton, and the peach orchard from his cattle. Bois d’arc hedges were also used for this purpose (see Vegetation).71

When barbed wire was introduced about 1876, the relatively inexpensive material immediately gained popularity among large-scale farms and ranches as a means of controlling cattle herds. Ultimately, barbed wire led to the end of open ranges for cattle grazing in east Texas, opening the door for a transition to cotton production.72

Henry and Hattie Bassett adopted a combination of wood and barbed wire fencing to delineate pasture from crop production throughout Bassett Farms. A fence of wood posts and barbed wire was also installed along the Kosse-Marlin Road to keep cattle from trampling through Home Place. The Bassett’s also built a fence of wood planks and wire mesh with a metal gate to enclose the core domestic building sand structures at Home Place and contain Hattie Bassett’s poultry flocks. It was updated with wood picket fencing around 1920.73 The picket fence was removed around 1942 and replaced with a border of small rocks.

71 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 3.

72 Preservation Texas. Overview, 26.

In the 20th century, utilitarian stock fences, usually a mix of wood posts and barbed wire, were continuously constructed and maintained throughout Bassett Farms to facilitate grazing rotation and keep cattle out of hay fields, as well as around the stock ponds to prevent livestock from trampling, damaging, and contaminating the ponds. Gates were installed along the fence lines to facilitate entry and circulation between pastures for both vehicles and grazing rotation.

Function and economy were prime drivers of the fences constructed throughout the historic period contributing to small variations in styles based on the methods of construction and materials available at the time. As is typical of agricultural landscapes spanning several decades and multiple generations, there is not one consistent fence type that was used.

Corrals and other livestock-related infrastructure were installed throughout Bassett Farms by Willie Ford Bassett as he transitioned the farm from cotton production back to stock raising in the 1940s and 1950s. Corrals are evident in the 1950s aerials along the north and west (rear) edges of the barn and within the pasture area south of Kosse-Marlin Road. Cattle guards were installed along the fence lines at Home Place to keep the cattle from wandering up to the Bassett House. Troughs and other feeding containers were likely located throughout the farm as herds were rotated through the pastures. A cattle wash was located in the pasture across Kosse-Marlin Road from the Bassett House.

Several types of hybrid fencing remain in use at Bassett Farms. The first is simple barbed wire fence lines supported via wood posts or t-posts (often a mix of the two as posts are repaired or replaced over time). This fence type is found in the pasture areas that used to house the grazing and farming functions on the farm. Wood slat fencing, sometimes with wire mesh overlays, is also located in and around the farm buildings at Home Place.

The southern end of Home Place was enclosed in continuous ornamental metal fencing around 1970. The metal posts are set in concrete although many are loose. The wood picket fence around the domestic core was removed, although the historic alignment is marked with a row of white stones and ornamental beds put in place by Willie Ford Bassett’s daughters.

Around 2013, a simple wooden fence was added at the Home Place entrance with a new gate. Combination fencing around several of the farm outbuildings behind Bassett House was removed and new wooden plank fencing was added to the north and northeast perimeter of the domestic core.74

Corrals, cattle guards, wild boar traps, and other varied livestock-related features are located throughout the landscape at Bassett Farms. These features are less prevalent than they were during the historic period due to the reduction in operations but continue to illustrate the former agricultural function of the property. These types of features were relocated and improved regularly while the farm was in operation. Though deteriorated, a remnant of the cattle 74 Preservation Texas. Home Place, 72.

wash remains in the pasture located across Kosse-Marlin Road from the Bassett House. It’s understood that the wild boar traps were added after the historic period.

In 2013, Preservation Texas retained a local firm to install a security system at Bassett House, and in 2019 a historic marker was installed near the entrance gate along the Kosse-Marlin Road.75 75

Small Scale Features

Upper: Example of post and barbed-wire fencing (MIG 2021)

Lower: Example of post and barbed-wire fencing in Home Place (MIG 2021)

Small Scale Features

Upper: Example of ornamental fencing around Bassett House (MIG 2021)

Lower: Example of wood fencing in Home Place (MIG 2021)

Small Scale Features

Upper: Example of cattle corral in Home Place (MIG 2021)

Lower: Example of cattle guard in Home Place (MIG 2021)

Small Scale Features

Upper: Example of wild boar trap in Blum Place (MIG 2021)

Lower: Historical marker at Home Place (MIG 2021)