Year Built: 1923
Architect: C. A. Carlander
The Garza County Courthouse is located in Post, Texas.After Garza County’s creation in 1876, it was not until 1907, at the initiative of cereal producer C. W. Post, that the county was formally organized. In 1922, when the population had grown to about 4500 and the cotton industry had spurred economic growth, citizens approved the sale of bonds to finance a new courthouse. The commissioners court selected prominent regional architect Guy Carlander of Amarillo to design the courthouse, and awarded the construction bid to the Fred T. Bone Company, also of Amarillo. Built in 1923 of reinforced concrete with brick exterior and cast stone details, the Garza County courthouse is a late, but fine, example of Prairie School architecture. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2000
“The county was named for a pioneer Bexar County family of which José Antonio de la Garza was a well-known member.
“Garza County was formed from Bexar County in 1876. It began to be settled by ranchmen during the mid-1870s, when buffalo hunting had nearly devastated the herds.
“In 1880 the census counted thirty-six residents in the county. The disastrous winter of 1885–86 and the drought of 1886 discouraged
some of the early ranchers, and by 1890 only fourteen residents remained.
“The development of the county quickly accelerated after 1906, when Charles William Post bought 250,000 acres in Lynn and Garza counties to start an experimental colony. He bought a number of ranches, fenced off the land in 160-acre tracts, laid out a townsite, built houses, and in other ways worked to attract settlers. In 1907 Garza County was formally organized, with the new town of Post City designated as county seat.
“By one estimate, more than 1,200 families followed the cereal millionaire to the colony, and the company town Post named for himself hastened the development of the entire region. Transportation improved with an ex-tension southward through the county of the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway in 1910.”
John Leffler, “GARZA COUNTY,” Handbook of Texas Online
