156 of 254 Grayson County Courthouse, Sherman, Texas. County Population: 120,877
Grayson County, Texas
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"After the establishment and surveying of the Peters colony in the early 1840s, settlement of the region progressed rapidly. On March 17, 1846, Grayson County, named for Peter W. Grayson, attorney general of the Republic of Texas, was marked off from Fannin County. The legislative action also specified that the county seat be called Sherman. The naming of the county seat in honor of Gen. Sidney Sherman was apparently an effort to effect a compromise between supporters of Sherman, an anti-Houston Whig, and Grayson, a pro-Houston Democrat.
"From 1870 to 1880 settlement in North Texas flourished. The arrival of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad in Sherman and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas in Denison in late 1872 initiated a period of phenomenal growth and development for Grayson County. "In 1938 Congress authorized the construction of a dam and reservoir north of Denison to control the flooding of the Red River, generate electrical power, and provide irrigation. Lake Texoma, the reservoir, with a shoreline of 1,250 miles, was developed by the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service and remains a major recreation area and tourist attraction." Donna J. Kumler, "GRAYSON COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online I visited Grayson County and photographed the courthouse in Sherman on Thursday, June 28, 2012.
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Commercial buildings line the west side of the Grayson County courthouse square. See the historic photograph, below, on the right
Grayson County Courthouse 1876
Martin & Moodie, Architects. Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Destroyed by fire in1930. Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Grayson County Courthouse 1936
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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The front of the courthouse faces north and a little west, on Houston Street
The front facade
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The architects of the Grayson County courthouse, Voelcker & Dixon of Wichita Falls, Texas, also designed the Midland County courthouse in Midland, TX.
View from the front steps of the courthouse, on Houston Street
The southeast corner of the square at the corner of Travis (right) and Lamar (left)
The 1962-63 addition to the courthouse. The 1936 building is on the right, with a partial basement
The east side of the 1936 courthouse
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The intersection of the 1963 (left) and 1936 (right) buildings
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Herbert Voelcker and Jess Dixon founded an architectural firm, Voelcker and Dixon, in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1918. They designed 9 county courthouses in Texas. The 1962-63 addition was the work of Voelcker.
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In the early 1960's the courthouse was enlarged by a significant addition on the south side of the 1936 building. The 1962-63 addition is almost indistinguishable from the original. It is located in the center of the original south facade, seen in the image below.
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The south entrance to the courthouse is part of the 1962-63 building
Original fan in the courtroom (priceless!)