Designed by Dallas architect Thomas J. Galbraith and completed in 1919, the Thomas House is an excellent regional example of Prairie School architecture and holds added significance through its ties to area ranches and the Ranger oil boom in Palo Pinto County. Rancher Randal Burton Thomas, Sr. (1886-1969) grew up in West Texas helping his mother, Mary Ellen Satterfield Thomas, run her family ranch after the family arrived in Strawn from Bowling Green, Kentucky, by 1881, when railroads began to reach the area, making them among the region’s first settlers. The Ranger oil boom, begun in 1917 with McClesky No. 1 Well, brought the family new wealth from the many producing wells on their properties. When Thomas planned to move into town, he designed the house with living quarters for his family on the north side and for Mary Ellen Satterfield Thomas on the south side, and it remained their home until their deaths. The house features strong Prairie style elements, including horizontality emphasized by wide, projecting eaves, and it was designed to be heated with coal from the nearby mines in Thurber, with extensive use of concrete and a red metal roof. Still in the Thomas family at the turn of the 21st century, it remains an important reminder of West Texas history and culture.