hils/doll homestead

1916
Southeast Colorado
National + State Register Nomination
(Completed in conjunction with additional architectural historians and archaeologists)

The Frank Hils and Christina Doll Homestead consists of a homestead complex that includes both domestic and agriculture-related resources constructed in a simple vernacular style. This style includes distinctive log construction and the use of repurposed railroad ties.  The use of a gabled roof, atypical for homestead sites in the region, suggests the influence of the German heritage of the homesteaders. According to 1920 U.S. Census records Frank Hils and his partner Christina Doll immigrated from Germany, arriving in the United States in 1910. Their homestead site includes a building complex in ruins and the open rangeland that surrounds it in every direction. All resources are constructed of stone, wood, or a combination of the two. Resources include ruins of two dwellings, a dugout, barn, chicken coop, small corral, and several other building sites or foundations.

The Frank Hils and Christina Doll Homestead is locally significant under Criterion A for agriculture as it represents a 640 acre homestead under the Enlarged Homestead and Stock Raising Acts with the owners raising livestock and planting crops.  It is also locally significant under Criterion C in the area of architecture as an example of a homestead complex that clearly reflects traditional construction materials and methods seen on such homesteads throughout the region. Finally, the homestead is locally significant under Criterion D in the area of non-aboriginal historic archaeology for its potential to yield further information regarding early twentieth century homesteading in the Purgatoire River Region