172 of 254 Gaines County Courthouse, Seminole, Texas. County Population: 17,526
Gaines County, Texas
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"The county was named for James Gaines, a merchant who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Gaines County covers 1,489 square
miles of rolling land that drains to scattered playas and draws. Sandy loam and sandy soils lie over the county's red-clay subsoil and support a growth of mesquite, shinnery, and catclaw. Cedar Lake (called Laguna Salinas by the Spanish), in northeastern Gaines County, is the largest salt lake on the Texas plains. "In 1876 the Texas legislature formed Gaines County from Bexar County. Gaines County was attached to Bexar County for administrative purposes in 1876, then to Shackelford County in 1877 and to Martin County in 1885. "C. C. Meddin, who moved his family and herd to Gaines County in 1880, was the first permanent settler; the United States census reported only eight people in the county in 1880. "Farming began to develop in the county after 1904, ... "As more people were moving into the area, the county was formally organized in 1905, with the new town of Seminole designated as the county seat. A courthouse was built in the town in 1906 and a jail in 1907. William R. Hunt, "GAINES COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online I visited Gaines County and photographed the courthouse in Seminole on Sunday, July 29, 2012.
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The Gaines County landscape is decidely horizontal, as are many of the buildings
Gaines County Courthouse 1922
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Photograph, circa 1939, courtesy TXDOT
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Gaines County Courthouse 1955
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
A familiar tale: the 1922 courthouse, designed by the Fort Worth firm of Sanguinet & Staats, is modernized in 1955 by wrapping a new building around the historic courthouse and additions on each side. The architects for the modern courthouse were Styles, Robert, Gee & Messersmith.
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The front of the Gaines County courthouse faces west, on Main Street (US 385)
The front doors of the courthouse
The Chevy Suburban of the Texas Agriculture Extension Service
The stair enclosure at the north end of the courthouse
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The south end of the courthouse
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The south side of the courthouse square on Ave B
The Seminole Chamber of Commerce building on the southeast corner of the courthouse square
The east side of the square. The 1955 project included a large addition to the east side of the historic courthouse
The north side of the courthouse on Ave A
US 180, eastbound between Seminole and Lamesa