County Seat – Hemphill
Built – 1906
Style – Beaux Arts
Architect – A N Dawson
Photos taken – 6/29/2015
go here for Adobe Lightroom Slideshow
Go to Hemphill Town Square
go to Sabine County Historic Jail
I don’t know, it just seems this courthouse and history and iterations were just a little difficult to pin down. Evidently, the courthouse, when built, was a lovely beaux arts design with tower, dome and a grand rotunda. A fire gutted the building and the tower and dome were left out of the rebuild. Then in the 1930’s, WPA money was used to complete the upper floors and the building was clad in a moderne stucco. At some point, after the fire or during the WPA restoration, the curved stairwell leading into the courthouse was straightened out. A more recent remodelling obviosly removed the stucco and brought back the curved entry stairs and other architectual points that had been lost in the 30’s redo. Still – this courthouse just kind of didn’t do it. Blame it on the fire of 1909.
There is an interesting interior point – the tiled emblem placed at the center of the first floor. It is made of 254 tile pieces (254 counties in texas), 28 pieces in the star (Texas was the 28th state) and 23 small stars (Sabine County was one of the original 23 counties of Texas).