Year Built: 1958 Architect: J. N. McCammon The Nacogdoches County Courthouse is located in Nacogdoches, Texas. Designed by architect J. N. McCammon, this is certainly one of the more unusual courthouse designs in Texas. In his guidebook to Texas courthouses, Dr. Mavis Kelsey notes that the building has been de-scribed as “early-motel” style. This style is related to the low-slung ranch house designs…
Year Built: 1924 Architect: David Castle The Mitchell County Courthouse is located in Colorado City, Texas. Architects and Builders: Martin, Byrns & Johnston of Colorado City. This courthouse is copied from the 1883 Bastrop County courthouse, designed by J. W. Preston and Sons. F. E. Ruffini, designer of many monumental Texas public buildings, including the Old…
Year Built: 1974 Architect: Dixon & Staley The Midland County Courthouse is located in Midland, Texas.The Wichita Falls architectural firm of (Herbert) Voelcher & (Jesse) Dixon designed the 1930 Midland County courthouse. The building combined Modern elements – massing and the regular, efficient floor plan of an office building – with a simplified and stylistic classicism. Unfortunately, in…
Year Built: 1965 Architect: Rusty, Martin & Vale The Matagorda County Courthouse is located in Bay City, Texas. Eugene T. Heiner was the architect for this building in the Second Empire style. Subsequently, the drawings for the courthouse were purchased by neighboring Brazoria County, which constructed a similar building in 1897. Matin Byrne Johnson and Appligate of Victoria built…
Year Built: 1975 Architect: Riherd & Huckabee The Martin County Courthouse is located in Stanton, Texas. The Martin County Courthouse was built in 1975 in a Modern style as designed by Riherd & Huckabee. The inaugural county capitol was erected in 1886 for some $24,000. The structure was declared unsafe, razed, and replaced in 1908 with…
Year Built: 1970 Architect: Dickson, Dickson, Buckley & Bullock The Madison County Courthouse is located in Madisonville, Texas. Completed in 1970, the Madison County Courthouse was designed by Dickson, Dickson, Buckley & Bullock in a Modern style and fashioned of concrete and brick. The previous county capitol burned in 1967. The first Madison County, created in…
Year Built: 1916 Architect: W. R. Rice The Lynn County Courthouse is located in Tahoka, Texas. In 1876 the Texas legislature created Lynn county, which organized in 1903 with Tahoka as county seat. A two-story frame structure on this site served as courthouse until citizens approved a bond election for the current building in Jul. 1915….
Year Built: 1950 Architect: Haynes & Kirby The Lubbock County Courthouse is located in Lubbock, Texas. The Lubbock County Courthouse was built in 1950 in a Moderne style as designed by Haynes & Kirby, and expanded in 1968. Lubbock County was created in 1876 and organized in 1891. Historian June Rayfield Welch, author of “The Texas…
Year Built: 1908 Architect: Andrew J. Bryan The Rains County Courthouse is located in Emory, Texas. The community of Emory was once called Springville, part of Wood County. In 1870, the Texas Legislature created Rains County from portions of four other counties. Named for early Texas patriot Emory Rains, the county chose Springville as its center…
Year Built: 1924 Architect: McLelland and Fink The Polk County Courthouse is located in Livingston, Texas. “1854, plans were underway for a two-story brick courthouse. It was 40 feet square with a wide hallway and four offices on the ground floor and one large open courtroom upstairs. The ground floor walls were 18 inches thick. The cost…
Year Built: 1927 Architect: David Castle The Reagan County Courthouse is located in Big Lake, Texas.”The Stiles Courthouse was the first substantial courthouse built in Reagan County. The rusticated stone complex, consisting of the courthouse and jail and a separate stone vault, was built on the Public Square in 1911. The four symmetrical facades of the…
Year Built: 1919 Architect: Atlee B. Ayres The Refugio County Courthouse is located in Refugio, Texas. The county and city of Refugio are named after the Spanish Mission De Nuestra Señora Del Refugio (the Mission of our Lady of Refuge) established here in 1795. The Spanish mission building served as Refugio County’s courthouse at various times…
Year Built: 1882 Architect: F.E. Ruffini The Robertson County Courthouse is located in Franklin, Texas. Erected in 1882 at a cost of $30,000, this white limestone building is the fourth to serve as Robertson County Courthouse. In 1879 the county seat had been moved for the fifth time, to Morgan, on the International & Great Northern…
Year Built: 1913 Architect: L. L. Thurman The Rusk County Courthouse is located in Henderson, Texas.The first courthouse was log structure built in 1843. The second courthouse was built by Cadawaller W Chaney, Joseph D Johnson and John Henderson in 1860. The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1878. The third courthouse was a brick…
Year Built: 1906 Architect: A. N. Dawson The Sabine County Courthouse is located in Hemphill, Texas. An 1858 election called for Sabine County offices to be moved from Milam (7 mi. N) to this more central location. The new county seat, Hemphill, was named for former Texas Supreme Court Justice John Hemphill. The first courthouse at…
Year Built: 1927 Architect: Shirley Simons The San Augustine County Courthouse is located in San Augustine, Texas. San Augustine County Courthouse When the town of San Augustine was platted in 1834, this property was reserved for the public square, but it was another 20 years before the first courthouse was constructed here. San Augustine was one…
Year Built: 1916-17 Architect: Roy E. Lane & Wilkes A. Dowdy The San Jacinto County Courthouse is located in Coldspring, Texas.A fire in 1915 destroyed the San Jacinto County courthouse. Landowners donated land at this site and relocated the center of county government to “new town” Coldspring. The county hired builders Price and Williamson to construct…
Year Built: 1911 Architect: Lang & Witchell The Scurry County Courthouse is located in Snyder, Texas. Seat of justice for Scurry County, created 1876 and organized 1884. Local landholders–R. H. Allen, Fred Barnard, R. H. Looney, C. C. McGinnis, C. H. McGinnis, T. N. Nunn, W. H. Snyder and H. A. Travekes–donated lots in center of…
Year Built: 1883 Architect: J. E. Flanders The Shackleford County Courthouse is located in Albany, Texas. Built 1883-84 from plans by J. E. Flanders of Dallas, architect for several other 1880s Texas courthouses. Edgar Rye of Albany was construction superintendent. Kilted Scottish Masons erected the walls of stone quarried a few miles southwest of town. The…
Year Built: 1885 Architect: J. J. E. Gibson The Shelby County Courthouse is located in Center, Texas. Shelbyville, once known as Nashville, was the first county seat of government of the District of Tenaha, or Shelby County. The first courthouse stood on this site. The settlement began before 1825. It became headquarters for the “Regulator-Moderator War”;…
Year Built: 1894 Architect: John Cormack The Somervell County Courthouse is located in Glen Rose, Texas. Built 1893. Late Victorian style. Native limestone construction. County was organized in 1875 and named for General Alexander Somervell (1796-1854), Texas soldier, colonist, and statesman. Court was first held in an old store across road from Barnard’s Mill. A log…
Year Built: 1926 Architect: David S. Castle The Stephens County Courthouse is located in Breckenridge, Texas. “The Stephens County Courthouse, designed in 1925 with construction spanning through 1926, creates a dramatic governmental landmark for both Stephens County and the city of Breckenridge. The courthouse occupies the public square central to the town’s gridiron street system. “Abilene…
Year Built: 1891 Architect: Martin, Byrnes and Johnston The Stonewall County Courthouse is located in Aspermont, Texas. The Stonewall County Courthouse was erected in 1983 in a Modern style. The original county capitol built in the inaugural county seat of Rayner is now a private residence. Stonewall County was one of 54 counties formed by…
Year Built: 1972 Architect: Tittle, Luther, Loving, Lee The Taylor County Courthouse is located in Abilene, Texas. Featuring a variety of exterior materials such as brick, cast stone, and terracotta, the 1915 Taylor County Courthouse is a 3-story brick building with a rectangular plan and a concealed flat roof. The Round XI Full Restoration Grant proposes…
Year Built: 1890 Architect: Martin, Byrnes and Johnston The Throckmorton County Courthouse is located in Throckmorton, Texas. The Texas Legislature created Throckmorton County – named for pioneer doctor William E. Throckmorton – in 1858, with organization delayed until 1879. F.E. Conrad donated land for the town square and built a frame courthouse on this site. The…
Year Built: 1955 Architect: Thomas Jameson & Merrell The Smith County Courthouse is located in Tyler, Texas. Designed in a mid-century Modern style and finished with buff-colored brick, granite, and dark marble. The six-story central block is flanked with two-story wings creating a symmetrical composition. Windows above the entrance and on the wings are vertically united…
Year Built: 1926 Architect: David S. Castle The Upton County Courthouse is located in Rankin, Texas. Now abandoned, the town of Upland (10 miles N) was intended as a station on the rail line from St. Louis to Chihuahua, Mexico. It was also located near the stage route of the Butterfield mail line. Henry Halff and…
Year Built: 1970 Architect: Joiner, Coburn & King The Walker County Courthouse is located in Huntsville, Texas. The first Walker County Courthouse was available for county commissioners court meetings in July 1848; the building was finally completed in the center of the Huntsville public square in 1850. Because of a defective foundation, a second courthouse had…
Year Built: 1940 Architect: Townes & Funk The Ward County Courthouse is located in Monahans, Texas. A Three-story red sandstone courthouse with a domed cupola was constructed here in 1893, one year after Barstow was elected first Ward County seat. The first elected officials to serve in the courthouse were R. D. Gage, co. judge; S….
Year Built: 1927 Architect: William Townes 🏛️ Hutchinson County Courthouse: A Testament to Boomtown Resilience in Stinnett, Texas Stinnett, Texas — Tucked into the heart of the Texas Panhandle, Stinnett may be a quiet county seat today, but it wasn’t always so calm. During the oil boom years of the 1920s and 1930s, Hutchinson County…
Year Built: 1980 Architect: Fields & Clarkson and Sanguiner & Pate The Wichita County Courthouse is located in Wichita Falls, Texas. The current Wichita County Courthouse was erected in 1916 and later remodeled with “an original courtroom charmingly ensconced on the fourth floor,” as described in “The Courthouses of Texas” by Mavis P. Kelsey Sr. and…
Year Built: 1909 Architect: Robert G. Kirsch The Hemphill County Courthouse is located in Canadian, Texas. 🏛️ Hemphill County Courthouse: A Neoclassical Jewel in the Canadian River Valley Canadian, Texas — Nestled in the rolling canyons and mesas of the northeastern Panhandle, the town of Canadianserves as the cultural and legal heart of Hemphill County….
Year Built: 1928 Architect: Preston Lee Walker The Hockley County Courthouse is located in Levelland, Texas. 🏛️ Hockley County Courthouse: Modern Function in the Heart of Levelland Levelland, Texas — In the wide-open cotton country of West Texas, where pump jacks nod in rhythm with the breeze and grain elevators line the horizon, Levelland serves…
Year Built: 1895 Architect: J. Riely Gordon The Hopkins County Courthouse is located in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Located across from the main square, the Hopkins County Courthouse boasts a Romanesque Revival style as designed by J. Riely Gordon. Completed in 1895, this National Register Property is fashioned of granite and sandstone and was restored in…
Year Built: 1928 Architect: Mann & Co. The Ochiltree County Courthouse is located in Perryton, Texas. 🏛️ Ochiltree County Courthouse: Prairie Classicism on the High Plains Perryton, Texas — At the far reaches of the Texas Panhandle, where wind meets wheat and horizon stretches endlessly, sits Perryton, the seat of Ochiltree County. This is High Plains…
Year Built: 1915 Architect: O. G. Roquemore 🏛️ Oldham County Courthouse: Prairie Classicism in the Crossroads of the Panhandle Vega, Texas — Just off the iconic Route 66, the town of Vega serves as the seat of Oldham County, a sprawling expanse of ranchland, wind-swept mesas, and deep Texas history. At the heart of this…
Year Built: 1930 Architect: Berry & Hatch The Moore County Courthouse is located in Dumas, Texas 🏛️ Moore County Courthouse: A Streamlined Sentinel in the Heart of Dumas, Texas Dumas, Texas — The seat of Moore County sits squarely in the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle, where the land stretches wide and the wind rarely…
Year Built: 1948 Architect: Wyatt Hedrick The Motley County Courthouse is located in Matador, Texas. 🏛️ Motley County Courthouse: A Quiet Sentinel on the Caprock Matador, Texas — Nestled along the edge of the Caprock Escarpment, the town of Matador has long served as the heart of Motley County, where ranching traditions run deep and time…
Year Built: 1912 Architect: George Burnett The Montague County Courthouse is located in Conroe, Texas. The state legislature established the Montague County on Christmas Eve in 1857. The following year, on August 2, 1858, the county was formally organized with its present boundaries carved from Cooke County. The new county was named for Daniel Montague, surveyor of the…
Year Built: 1932 Architect: W.C. Townes of Townes, Lightfoot and Funk of Amarillo 🏛️ Potter County Courthouse: Monumental Justice in the Heart of Amarillo Amarillo, Texas — At the crossroads of cattle trails, railroad tracks, and Panhandle ambition stands Amarillo, the seat of Potter County. And towering in its center is the Potter County Courthouse,…