Andrews County Courthouse (Andrews)

Architect: William Thomas “W.T.” Strange, Jr.

Year Built: 1939.

The Andrews County Courthouse is located in the City of Andrews, Texas. Andrews is located in West Texas, on the border with New Mexico, approximately 110 miles southwest of Lubbock and 35 miles northwest of the Midland-Odessa area. It is bounded on the north by Gaines County, on the east by Martin County, and on the south by Winkler and Ector counties.

Andrews County was settled in 1876 and has a population of 18,610. The only incorporated city in the county, Andrews has a population of 13,487. (cen. 2020).  The City of Andrews encompasses 6.90 square miles.

Andrews County was organized May 11, 1910 and named after Captain Richard Andrews, who was killed at the Battle of Concepcion on October 28, 1835. Andrews was the first man to fall
in the Texas Revolution.

The design of the courthouse is unremarkable, but the trees on the grounds are impressive for West Texas. Also notable is an oil derrick replica commemorating the billionth barrel of oil produced from the County on May 25, 1965.  A second plaque commemorates the two billionth barrel of crude produced on August 21, 1981.  That’s 2,000,000,000 barrels of oil in 52 years from beneath Andrews County.

According to the first plaque, Oil was first discovered in Andrews County in December 1922.  As expected, an oil production dependent County has experienced its share of booms and busts.