Ugh!! The weather was overcast, wet, rainy and generally messy yesterday, so we skipped any courthouse visits yesterday. So today we hoped for – and received a break in the weather. We visited 3 counties today – Colin County (McKinney), Grayson County (Sherman) and Cooke County (Gainesville).
McKinney was a very active town, with a complete town square area that is totally revitalized. the DFW area as grown out to McKinney and ensured its place as a growing, but historic courthouse. We were in for a big surprise when we got to McKinney. They built and opened a new courthouse (located on US75). They tore down the modern courthouse – so we missed out on that completely. To be honest – from the pictures we’ve seen, we didn’t miss much. It looked to be modern blah. The new courthouse has some style and seems to lean on classical revival. It has nice rotunda entrance and interesting ceiling work and a glass dome in the lobby. Cameras are not allowed in the courthouse, so I returned our cameras to the truck. I did sneak in a few phone photos – but I not with my camera. We then drove into town and got photos of the 1927 courthouse. It’s now a community performing arts center – complete with a courtroom theater. Just off the square you can find the historic jail. It was called a ‘Prison’ instead of jail – for whatever reason.
Next was Sherman. Again, an active and vibrant town square. Sherman seem prosperous enough. The Grayson County Courthouse was a art deco gem. Make sure you catch the photos of the decorative eagles and other ornamentation. This is probably one of the better Texas examples of art deco.
The final courthouse of the day was Cooke County in Gainesville. Wonderful beaux arts building. Really am taking a shine to this style so popular in the early parts of the 20th century. This one is restored and does not disappoint. The courthouse had been renovated and ‘updated’ meaning a lot of its’ beauty was lost. With the restoration, they were able to bring the courthouse back to its initial beauty. One of the most interesting aspects of the restoration was the fact that the the stained glass lobby dome was taken down and lost forever. What they did as part of the restoration was to recreate the ‘feel’ of the original by coming up with a totally new designed stained glass dome – using other courthouse domes and stained glass designs from that time period. Overall, it is an impressive courthouse and restoration. Not quite up to the Johnson County level (not to be missed by any courthouse afficionado), but Cooke County has nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to its’ courthouse. There is also an historic jail located a little off the square. Looks a lot like a house, and has a small feel of the Atascosa County Courthouse – with the red brick and the little mission styling.
We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. I’m looking for getting up to 3 more counties tomorrow – if they’re not closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. There are some beauties on the list (Denton, Hood and Parker Counties) – so I hope it works out