Hiawatha Estes

Who was Hiawatha Estes?

Hiawatha Thompson Estes was a California-based architect and author known for designing a large number of variations of the ubiquitous post-war ranch home, mass marketing plans of them, and publishing a number of books dealing with residential architecture.

Estes was a Chickasaw Indian Nation member. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma and served in World War II as a Captain in the Army Air Corps 37th Fighter Squadron.

After the war, Estes founded "Architectural House and Plan Business, Nationwide Plan Book" which was to evolve into Hiawatha Estes and Associates. Estes was a resident of Northridge, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, and remarkable for the number and diversity of ranch homes, some of which are Hiawatha Estes designs. Estes was related to Senator Helen TeAta Cole, his cousin, also of Oklahoma.