183 of 254 Henderson County Courthouse, Athens, Texas. County Population: 81,969
Henderson County, Texas
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"Henderson County is located in East Texas between the Neches and Trinity Rivers. The county encompasses 949.7 square miles. The eastern third of the county, along the Neches River, is part of the East Texas Timberlands.
"Along the Trinity River, the western border of the county, lie the bottom-lands of the flood plain, where the vegetation features mixed hardwoods and a dense undergrowth of scrubs and vines typical of the East Texas mixed forests. "The county is hilly and rolling, with an elevation from 256 to 763 feet above sea level. "People of European origin did not settle in the area until after the Texas Revolution in 1836, though the future Henderson County was part of the Nacogdoches District in Spanish and Mexican Texas. "The Texas legislature established Henderson County on April 27, 1846, and named it in honor of James Pinckney Henderson, first governor of the state of Texas. The county was formed from parts of Nacogdoches and Houston counties. "Buffalo was the county seat until March 1848. In 1848 the legislature formed Van Zandt and Kaufman counties out of Henderson County and reduced it to its present size. The center of the county again moved. The name of the new county seat, Athens, was suggested by Dulcina A. Holland, who hoped the town would be a center of learning." (Rather, it became the "Black-Eyed Pea Capital of the World.") Linda Sybert Hudson, "HENDERSON COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online |
I visited Henderson County and photographed the courthouse in Athens on Saturday, July 13, 2013.
Henderson County Courthouse 1887
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Image courtesy THC. Courthouse demolished 1913
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Henderson County Courthouse 1913
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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This courthouse, designed by the Dallas architect L. L. Thurman, was clearly derived from the 1909 Rains County courthouse in nearby Emory and the 1910 Fisher County courthouse in Roby (in west Texas), both designed by architect Andrew Bryan. The plan is an interesting combination of bi-axial, pedimented facades that face the four streets fronting the courthouse square, and four diagonal wings that frame the pediments and acknowledge the intersections of the four streets. Thurman also designed the 1910 Jeff Davis County courthouse and several others in the state.
View of the courthouse square from the southwest. There is a courthouse behind the trees
The southeast corner of the courthouse square, at the intersection of Corsicana and Palestine Streets
The east steps of the courthouse, looking south
The east facade
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View of the east façade from the northeast corner of the square
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The north entrance to the courthouse, on Tyler Street
The north facade
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The cornerstone is on the northeast corner of the building
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The south pediment
The west façade with a service drive
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The south facade
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The north side of the courthouse
The dome is barely visible from ground level
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The sidewalk on Prairieville Street on the west side of the square
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The county has converted a former bank building on Prairieville Street into an annex
A beautiful urban garden on the west side of the square
Southwest of the square, on Corsicana Street is another county building: the Judicial Complex. I believe this building was originally a grocery store