Historic Nance Farm

NANCE FARM MASTERPLAN

Nance Farm Graphic

The City of DeSoto adopted a new Nance Farm Master Plan on February 21, 2023. This new vision updates the plan adopted in 2009 and emphasizes opportunities to utilize the site for community engagement and activities related to both art and history.  This Plan and supporting documents can be found by following this link:

Nance Farm Master Plan adopted by the DeSoto City Council on February 21, 2023.

Nance Farm existing conditions report 2023.

The process of implementing the Master Plan will start with the development of formal design documents to support the restoration of historic structures and construction of planned new amenities. That implementation will also require revising the zoning for the property.

NANCE FARM REZONE

The current zoning of the Nance Farm site is tied to a site plan based on the previous master plan.  The property has not and, with the adoption of the new plan, will not be developed consistent with the current Planned Development zoning.  The adoption of a rezone consistent with the new Master Plan will be required in order to realize the new vision for the site.  The official notices of the public hearings and other actions that are part of that process can be found here:

(reference to P&Z page)




HISTORY OF NANCE FARM

Historic Nance Farm is located at 1325 Greenbrook Drive, in the Mantlebrook Subdivision in DeSoto, Texas. Nance Farm was designated as a Recorded Texas Historical Landmark in 1976.

Otway Bird Nance (1805-1874) brought his wife and ten children from Illinois in 1851 and purchased 640 acres from Peter's Colony. Patriarch Otway B. Nance built the milking barn and the home that same year. He acquired more land, and within the next several years, the Nance Farm property had doubled in size.
The property was owned and occupied by the Nance Family until the 1950’s. Over the next two decades the surrounding land was subdivided into residential lots. In 1975 the City of DeSoto purchased the property and utilized it as a community center. The property was sold back into private ownership in 1981, but was later in jeopardy of foreclosure. By the time the City of DeSoto again purchased Nance Farm in 2007, the size of the property had been reduced to just over two (2) acres. Click here to view photos of Nance Farm

Though the main house was originally built as a two-story home with a Greek Revival façade, it now reflects a Victorian style with a full-length front porch. The transformation from Greek Revival to Victorian occurred sometime prior to 1883.The kitchen and dining room were added to the home as an attached wing; however, it was common practice in the 1850’s to have a detached kitchen and this may have been the case with the Nance Farm house when it was first constructed. Accessory structures include a windmill, windmill well, bucket well, curing shed, milking barn, and tank house.

With the help of Representative Helen Giddings, the City was awarded a matching grant through the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department in 2008.  This grant funded the creation of the Restoration Master Plan, and the remaining amount was used fund construction of Initial Phase of the Master Plan. The DeSoto City Council created the DeSoto, Texas Historical Foundation Board, whose current primary focus is to advise City staff regarding the restoration of Historic Nance Farm. Nance Farm Restoration Master Plan 2009. The City of DeSoto is currently in the process of updating the Master Plan that was initiated in 2009. Follow this link to view existing conditions report.

Click here to watch a video about the history of Nance Farm. 

Follow this link to view a video of Nance Farm produced by KERA Public TV.

To learn more about Nance Farm and the master plan project email the Nance Farm Information Team at NanceFarm@desototexas.gov.