What a great example of art deco. The LaSalle County Courthouse, located in Cotulla, Texas, had been renovated within the last few years. The renovation has added shine and interest to this South Texas jewel. see the photos of LaSalle Revisited
I recently had a chance to take a quilting retreat in the Texas Hill Country. It was restful, fun and beautiful! Take a look at our getaway we took at Emilie’s Quilt Haus in October of 2014.
We drove out of our way, a little, on our way to Shreveport. I had hopes we could get to all 6 counties we were missing in the area, but wound up getting just 3. All 3 were interesting in their own way. Newton and Jasper Courthouses are older, and both have been restored. Hardin Courthouse is a very typical ’50’s look, but they’ve done what they can do bring the past back. I’ve also included photos of a historic jail in Jasper, as well as town square from Jasper. On theway back, on this trip, we stopped in Crockett. Clem had not previously photographed the Houston County Courthouse so this was his chance. I took pictures of the Crockett Town Square and have added those photos.
The whole basketball world is waiting to see what LeBron James decides this time (while San Antonio continues to bask in the glory of team basketball), there have been some updates to the website and some new counties soon to be added. Well, I don’t know about soon, but they are coming!
Anywhow, the 9 Central County Courthouses have now been updated (Bell, Hill, Erath, Ellis, McLennan, Coryell, Bosque, Navarro and Hood). Quite an interesting collection, indeed. In addition, there were the town square pictures taken in Stephenville, Meridian, Granbury, Waxahachie, and Hillsboro. I’ve also included historic jails from Bell, Coryell, Hill, and Hood.
As to the counties I hope to add soon – there’s a little disappointment to report on that. I had hopes that we could somehow do the 6 deep East Texas counties we’ve missed so far on a trip to Shreveport recently (Margaritaville). Well, it just didn’t work out. We did get to photograph Hardin, Newton and Jaspar Counties. We had a great chat with the former Sheriff of Hardin County – Mr. Paine had once been the youngest sheriff in Texas. And the Newton and Jaspar County courthouses were both old and well taken care of. We hope to make a trip someday to capture the other 3 counties, and revisit Nacogdoches, Angelina and Rusk counties – since Clem never had a chance to photograph that group. Be on the lookout for the new 3 courthouses to added soon.
What a great little trip this was. We got to take the travel trailer (it’s been quite awhile), Sophie got to go (she hates getting left behind), and we visited 9 really outstanding courthouses. You really could do a lot worse than this set of courthouses if you wanted to see the best. Really a stunning and magnificently restored group of Texas County Courthouses.
First day was Bosque, Hood and Erath counties. Bosque was the surprise in that all the photos I had seen showed it as a remodeled monstrosity. Well it has been restored and returned to its’ glory.
Second Day, after waiting for the rain to subside, was Hill, Ennis and Navarro counties. The first 2 are gems sitting in well-visited towns. The third is an intriguing Beaux Arts style, but badly needing restoration. It looked like that may be happening now, but I saw no signs to that effect.
The third day, again after a little rain delay, included Coryell, Bell and McLennan counties. All 3 were spectacular from outside. Inside – Coryell is in desperate need of restoration, and probably additional space. Bell’s been completely restored, and McLennan had some restoration in the 1980’s.
Visit these pages and revel in the glory that is Texas Courthouses. This page is being posted first. The county pages and photos will be added over the next few days.
No biggee here – but it is a county courthouse in Texas. Straight out of the 50’s, this courthouse doesn’t add a lot to the Texas courthouse pedigree. Stop in and see the Panola County Courthouse. We also caught some photos of the retired 1885 county jail as well.
You could call this the duel of the Statues of Justice. But more about that later. We were finally able to add a couple of new courthouses to our collection. I’m not sure – but I believe the total number of courthouses now sits at about 135 – 140. Seriously hope to add to that later this new year. In fact, later this month, we hope to visit the Panola County Courthouse in Carthage, Texas – home of the Texas County Music Hall of Fame.
On a recent trip to visit friends in East Texas, we stopped in Georgetown (Williamson County) and Cameron (Milam County). Two very different courthouses with the first being beaux arts and the latter – Renaissance Revival.
What they each had in common was a prominent Statue of Justice. The Statue atop the Williamson County Courthouse is identified as the goddess Themis. She sits atop a copper dome, is blindfolded and holds both a sword and scales. The statue standing over the Milam County Courthouse is identified as the Goddess of Justice – is not blindfolded, does hold a sword and has something in her left hand that I can’t figure out what it is. Maybe it was scales and they broke off. I can’t find any info on the Internet.
The Milam County statue is not the original. When the courthouse was ‘renovated’ some years ago – the statue was put in safe keeping for future use. The story goes, it was such a safe place, it was never found again.
These are both very good representatives of their styles. In addition to the courthouses, both counties had retired jails which were quite stylish in their own right. The retired Milam County Jail is a hulking red brick Romanesque-style building with a hanging tower. The retired Williamson County Jail is a little lighter in style and color – being built with gray stone in the Bastile Style. I also added collections of photos of the Georgetown Courthouse Square and the photos of the Williamson County Restoration process.
This year seems to be a lost year when it comes to adding significantly to the courthouses pictured on this website. And I am more sorry about that than anyone. I have some faint hopes that this may change over the coming months into the next year. But until then, I will have to make due with what I have.
What I have, in this case, is two sets of photos taken of old jails in Anderson County (Palestine). The Anderson County Courthouse was one of the first we’d captured and it remains one of my favorites for many reasons. And since we visit Palestine a few times a year, opportunities are plentiful in this part of East Texas.
The first jail is one that is really not a county jail. What it was was a building on the County’s Poor Farm. Often, county jail inmates were sent to work on the poor farm, and this building was used to hold the inmates while there. click here to see this old time jail.
The Second jail I’ve posted is actually the 3rd jail of Anderson County. There was the original jail – which was built to include and ‘underground dungeon’. And then there was the 1890’s beauty which stood on the same spot as the art deco jail that I’ve photographed here. The ‘new’ jail is interesting as an art deco style jailhouse, but also for the fact that it has recently been bought by someone interested in ‘fixing’ it up. Click here to see some great photos of this old courthouse and meet the guy that bought it.
Be sure to take a little time to visit these interesting jail relics in Anderson County.
It’s been almost 4 months since my last post – and I don’t know about you – but I have to ask – where are the Courthouses? Lots been going on this year – between relatives health, Mother’s ‘living’ situation, 50th High School Reunion, big trip to Alabama, a couple of trips to Florida – maybe you get the idea. On top of that, since the school year’s started – I’ve worked almost everyday I’ve been home. This is a good thing – I’m trying to save up money for a bucket list item (trans-Atlantic cruise) and a new hearing aid! This stuff doesn’t come cheap.
So – bottom line, we’ve not done any courthouses as of yet. So, rather than let the site languish – I’ve decided to post some of the interesting photo sets from our Alabama and Michigan trips. First up is Alabama. We visited the Florence area of Northwest Alabama – the Quad Cities (Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia). They have an annual blues-Jazz fest in honor of local musician W. C. Handy. See the world’s only Coon Dog Cemetery and a Frank Lloyd Wright house. There’s lots in Tuscumbia including the Colbert County Courthouse, the Tuscumbia Train Depot Museum and the early Alabama Plantation home called Belle Mont.
