174 Kaufman County

174 of 254 Kaufman County Courthouse, Kaufman, Texas. County Population: 129,792

Kaufman County, Texas

"The county comprises 788 square miles of the Blackland Prairie region of Northeast Texas. The terrain is predominantly level to gently un-dulating, with an elevation ranging from 300 to 550 feet above sea level.
"The first Kaufman County settlement was started in 1840 by William P. King and a group of forty pioneers from Holly Springs, Mississippi, who had purchased certificates for headrights from the Republic of Texas. The group built a fort and named it King's Fort in honor of their leader.
"On July 27, 1846, after the annexation of Texas by the United States, King patented the survey that included King's Fort with the new state government. The territory was at that time part of the recently organized Henderson County. Kaufman County was drawn from Henderson County, established in February 1848, and named for David Spangler Kaufman, a diplomat and member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas, the legislature of the state of Texas, and the Congress of the United States. King's Fort was renamed Kaufman and became the county seat in March 1851, after four elections. The county's northern boundary was reduced by the establishment of Rockwall County in 1873, and its limits have since remained unchanged."
Brian Hart, "KAUFMAN COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online

I visited Kaufman County and photographed the courthouse in Kaufman on Sunday, August 19, 2012.

Although much of Kaufman County is rural, the county is rapidly become a suburb of Dallas

Kaufman County Courthouse 1887

Architect: W. C. Dodson of Waco. Image courtesy of courthousehistory.com

Photograph, circa 1939, courtesy of TXDOT

Judge J. E. Dillard, by instruction of the county commissioners, advertised for sealed bids to erect a stone courthouse for Kaufman County. " The building is to be constructed out of good stone , each stone being personally inspected by the architect Mr. Dunson of Waco. The building is to be 98 x 114 feet. The outside walls are to be 60 feet high. From the ground to the top of the tower will be 124 feet. The base of the walls will be six feet wide, laid in cement and gravel two feet thick. The foundation stones will be six feet long and one foot thick and laid cross ways. The foundation will be of the very best quality of blue limestone up to the first water table, about four feet. The walls, in and outside, all the way to roof, will be of good stone two feet thick. The corner stones will be of White Kaoline - a very beautiful rock, susceptable of a fine finish. The stairways are to be of iron, excepting those in the tower. There will be three stories - county and district court rooms and clerk's offices and grand jury room. The building will be a facsimile of the Weatherford courthouse save the corners and height of tower, which will be six feet highter than the Weatherford courthouse tower. In the tower there will be a place for a clock, but as yet the court will not buy a clock. The building is to be completed by October Ist 1887. After that date, if the building is not completed according to contract and specifications, a forfeit of fifteen dollars a day will be deducted from cost."
"On July 9, 1887 the new courthouse was accepted and county officers ordered to move into it. This grand old stone building was to serve the county for over seventy years. The clock as mentioned in the specifications was never installed, at least one that had worked. The dome with the artificial clocks was removed around 1900 after being struck by lightning several times." County Seats of Kaufman County
From the style and design of the 1887 Kaufman County courthouse, and the reference in the article above to the "architect, Mr. Dunson of Waco" and to the Weatherford (Parker County) courthouse, it is clear to me that the noted architect W.C. Dodson of Waco was responsible for the 1887 Kaufman County courthouse. In fact, a stone monument on the courthouse grounds lists Dodson & Dudley of Waco as the architects. (photo below)

The 1887 courthouse cornerstone is displayed on the courthouse square with a pyramidal capstone. The capstone lettering is very difficult to read

Kaufman County courthouse 1956

Image courtesy of courthousehistory.com

The cornerstone makes no mention of the architects, Morey and McGill of Dallas

Trival fact: Architect A. Warren Morey (Texas registration number 1465) also designed Texas Stadium (which opened in 1971), home of the Dallas Cowboys football team, until it was demolished (imploded, actually) on April 11, 2010. According to an article by Michael Granberry in The Dallas Morning News from 2008, "Born in Wichita Falls, Mr. Morey moved with his family to Tulsa, Okla., before he was 5. He began college at what is now Oklahoma State University by taking courses in chemical engineering. But one night, he dropped in on a fellow student and saw architectural drawings all over the wall. He soon switched majors. Mr. Morey opened his own firm in Dallas in 1957."