254 Texas Courthouses
  • Home
  • Chronological Order (of my visits)
  • County List (alphabetical)
  • County Seat List (alphabetical)
  • Texas Courthouse Blog
  • James Riely Gordon, Architect
  • Eugene T. Heiner, Architect
  • Henry T. Phelps, Architect
  • Alfred Giles, Architect
  • Corneil G. Curtis, Architect
  • Wesley Clark Dodson, Architect
  • Lang & Witchell Architects
  • Voelcker & Dixon, Architects
  • Wyatt C. Hedrick, Architect
  • David S. Castle, Architect
  • Page Brothers, Architects
  • James Edward Flanders, Architect
  • Pierce, Norris, Pace & Associates, Architects & Engineers

130 of 254:  Panola County Courthouse, Carthage, Texas.  County Population:  23,796

Picture
Panola County, Texas
"... after the Texas Revolution in 1836, the area experienced a great land rush.  By 1840 at least forty-nine families were established in the area that became Panola County.
"In 1840 the boundary between the Republic of Texas and the United States (the line that later became the county's eastern boundary) was settled.
"On March 30, 1846, the Texas legislature established Panola [derived from ponolo, the Cherokee word for 'cotton'] County from parts of Shelby and Harrison counties. 
"Because the legislature specified that the county seat was to be within five
miles of the center of the county, it took two years for the county to choose a permanent seat of government. Only two real villages, Pulaski and Grand Bluff, existed in the area in 1846; both were ferry towns on the Sabine River.  [Despite its location, an] election on August 23 [1846] chose Pulaski, by a small majority, as the county seat.
"After dissatisfied citizens challenged the legality of the choice, ... an election [was] held in August 1848 [and] the voters of the county chose Carthage [as the county seat]."
Leila B. LaGrone, "PANOLA COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online
I visited Panola County and photographed the courthouse on Friday, March 23, 2012 and again, on Friday, June 6, 2014.
Picture
Picture
The Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Center

Panola County Courthouse 1885

Picture
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
Picture
Photo, circa 1939, courtesy TXDOT
An Irish-American brickmaker and mason, John  Joseph Emmett Gibson, created this castle-like courthouse.  It, and the Shelby County courthouse of the same year, were two of a kind, unlike any other courthouse in Texas.  The Shelby County courthouse in Center, just a few miles south of Carthage, survives.
Picture
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
Picture
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
Picture
The courthouse square in downtown Carthage. In 1956 the historic 1885 courthouse was demolished. The salvaged bricks sold for $3,000.
Picture
The location of the 1885 courthouse is now a garden

Panola County Courthouse 1953

Picture
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
Preston M. Geren, Sr. (1891-1969) was both architect and engineer for this courthouse.  A 1912 graduate of Texas A&M, Geren was chief engineer for the Fort Worth architectural firm of Sanguinet, Staats, and Hedrick (later Wyatt C. Hedrick Inc.) from 1923-34.  Notably, Geren was associate architect for the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, designed by Louis Kahn.
Picture
The courthouse entrance
Picture
The front of the courthouse faces east. I arrived in Carthage in late afternoon and found the front facade in the shade. A second visit to Carthage is on my to do list.
Picture
Another view of the east facade
Picture
2014: the front façade in the sunlight. New letters for the county sign above the front doors
Picture
Picture
Picture
Interesting. The jail is located above the main entrance to the courthouse
Picture
The south facade of the courthouse
Picture
An addition on the southwest corner of the courthouse
Picture
A large, multi-story addition on the northwest corner of the courthouse
Picture
What were they thinking? A pitched roof? No windows? Two small louvers as the principal focus?
Picture
Carthage is the Country Music capital of Texas
Proudly powered by Weebly