Gaines County Courthouse (Seminole)

Year Built: 1955.

Architect: Styles, Robert, Gee & Messersmith.

The Gaines County Courthouse is located in Seminole, Texas.  Despite the name Seminole, Gaines County was formerly Comanche Indian country. Located in the High Plains of West Texas, Gaines County proclaims itself to be the #1 County for production of peanuts, cotton and oil.

The county was named for James Gaines, a merchant who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Built in a modern architectural style, the courthouse exterior contains limestone accents and a blue-green tiling. The 1955 courthouse envelopes an earlier, 1922, courthouse.

Text of the Historical Marker for Gaines County:

Named for James L. Gaines, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, this county was formed out of Bexar County in 1876. Anglo settlement of the area began about 1895, and the county was formally organized in 1905. Seminole was established as the county seat that year, and a courthouse was built in 1906. Ranching and farming were the most prominent and profitable occupations until the mid-1930s, when they were eclipsed by oil production. Gaines County encompasses 1,479 square miles, and Seminole and Seagraves are its two largest cities.