062 of 254:  Eastland County Courthouse, Eastland, Texas.  County Population:  18,583

Eastland County, Texas

"Eastland County covers about 952 square miles of the West Cross Timbers region of Texas; its hilly, rolling terrain ranges from 1200 to 1800 feet above sea level.
"By 1858 residents included the families of John Flannegan (or Flannagan) from Kentucky;
"That year the Texas legislature formed Eastland County from land formerly assigned to Bosque, Coryell, and Travis counties; the county was attached to Palo Pinto County for judicial purposes.
"The county was named for Capt. William Mosby Eastland, a member of the Mier Expedition and a victim of the Black Bean Episode.
"Due in part to its isolation from other settled areas and frequent trouble from raiding Indians, the county remained sparsely settled until the 1870s.
"In early 1874 the Flannagan's Ranch headquarters, also called Merriman, was designated as the county seat. Through the efforts of Charles U. Connellee and other promoters, an election was held in 1875, and the new town of Eastland was designated the county seat.
"By 1881 the Texas and Pacific and the Texas Central railroads had reached the county. A new town was organized at the intersection of the two railways when residents of Red Gap, a mile away, moved and re-named their town Cisco. An intense rivalry grew between Eastland and Cisco, and in August 1881 a second county-seat election took place; Eastland won by 354 to 324."
John Leffler, "EASTLAND COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online

I visited Eastland County and photographed the courthouse in Eastland on July 25, 2010.

Eastland County courthouse 1897

Image courtesy courthousehistory.com

Eastland County courthouse 1928

Image courtesy courthousehistory.com

The designer/builder of this Richardsonian Romanesque style courthouse was John A. White.

Image courtesy courthousehistory.com

The 1928 courthouse was designed by Otto Lang, of the Dallas firm Lang and Witchell, in a moderne/art deco style.

Photograph, circa 1939, courtesy TXDOT.