151 Terry County

151 of 254 Terry County Courthouse, Brownfield, Texas. County Population: 12,651

Terry County, Texas

"Terry County was demarked from Bexar County in 1876 and named for Col. Benjamin Franklin Terry, who commanded the Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers) in the Civil War. It was attached to Young County until 1881, when Throckmorton County took over its judicial affairs. In 1883 administration was vested in Howard County, and in 1889 it was transferred to Martin County.
"Terry County was organized in 1904, with Brownfield as its seat of government."
William R. Hunt and John Leffler, "TERRY COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online
"In 1903 town promoters W. G. Hardin and A. F. Small arrived in Terry County planning to turn Small's few hundred dollars into thousands. The two men bought the county's center lot from A. M. (Dick) Brownfield and began to plat the site, giving every voter in the county a lot in order to enhance the town's chances of becoming the county seat; they named the town after a prominent ranching family [the Brownfield's].
"On June 28, 1904, Brownfield was voted county seat by a slim margin over the larger and older town of Gomez."
Leoti A. Bennett, "BROWNFIELD, TX," Handbook of Texas Online

I visited Terry County and photographed the courthouse in Brownfield on Saturday, May 19, 2012. I returned on Thursday, May 8, 2014 to photograph the restored courthouse.

Terry County Courthouse 1925

Image courtesy courthousehistory.com

Photo, circa 1939, courtesy TXDOT

Architects for the 1925 courthouse were Peters & Haynes. A 1951 addition on the east side, designed by Carl H. Stautz, doubled the size of the building.

The courthouse was undergoing restoration work on May 19, 2012, the day I first visited

This facade faces north, onto W. Main Street. A 1951 addition is visible on the left

The south facade faces W. Broadway Street

This is the west facade, on S. 6th Street

The southwest corner of the courthouse. The 1951 addition is on the right

The south entrance

W. Main Street on the north side of the courthouse square. Compare the building on the left to a very similar façade on the square in Levelland (#200)