Morris County Courthouse (Daingerfield)
Year Built: 1973.
Architect: Pierce, Pace & Associates
The Morris County Courthouse is located in the small northeast Texas city of Daingerfield. Morris County is one county removed from the state’s northern boundary with Oklahoma and one county removed from the state’s eastern boundary with Arkansas/Louisiana.
Until 2016, Morris County was dry, meaning that the sale of alcohol was banned.
The current Morris County Courthouse is one of my LEAST favorite in the entire State of Texas. Notably, its architects also designed two of my other least favorites: the Culberson County Courthouse (Van Horn) and the Zavala County Courthouse (Crystal City).
From the TSHA Handbook of Texas:
Before the existence of Morris County, five counties included all or part of its territory. In 1820 the area was organized as Miller County, Arkansas. In 1836 the tract became Red River County of the Republic of Texas. In January 1841 the Congress of the republic established Paschal County for judicial and other purposes and designated Daingerfield county seat. The act establishing Paschal County was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court the next year because it did not provide the county with representation in the legislature. Subsequently, part of what was to become Morris County became part of Red River County, and the rest of the area was part of Bowie County. In 1846 the First Legislature of the state of Texas established Titus County, which included all of the territory in present Morris County. Morris County was demarked from Titus County on March 13, 1875, and probably named for William W. Morris. The county was organized on May 12, 1875, with Daingerfield as the county seat. Periodic unsuccessful attempts have been made to make another town county seat.
This courthouse replace the 1882 courthouse, which was retired but still stands. The old courthouse was designed by was designed by the firm Peterson & Stuckey.It was bought and is now occupied by a private law firm.
