213 Titus County

213 of 254 Titus County Courthouse, Mount Pleasant, Texas. County Population: 32,334

Titus County, Texas

"Located in northeastern Texas, Titus County comprises 412 square miles of the East Texas timberlands, an area that is heavily forested with a great variety of softwoods and hardwoods, especially pine, cypress, and oak. The terrain ranges from nearly level to rolling; most of the county is gently undulating to rolling. Elevation ranges from 250 to 450 feet above mean sea level.
"During the early 1840s settlement of the area proceeded rapidly, and in 1846 the First Legislature of the state of Texas established Titus County, which included all of the territory of present-day Morris and Franklin counties. The county was named for Andrew Jackson Titus, an early Red River County settler. Mount Pleasant was established as the county seat.
"For more than seventy years after the Civil War, Titus County remained predominantly rural, with an economy based on agricultural products. The county's dependence on agriculture was even more pronounced following the demarcation of Franklin and Morris counties in 1875, a move that reduced the county to its present size and boundaries."
Cecil Harper, Jr., "TITUS COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online

I visited Titus County on Saturday, June 7, 2014 and photographed the courthouse in Mount Pleasant. To date, this is the only "musical" courthouse I've encountered. Loudspeakers mounted on the courthouse roof played, rather loudly, "elevator music" throughout my visit. Odd.

Northbound on US Highway 271

Titus County Courthouse 1895 Titus County Courthouse 1940

Image courtesy of courthousehistory.com

Photo courtesy of TXDOT

Alas, all four of these courthouses are one and the same building. The historic 1895 building, designed by F.B. & W.S. Hull, was "modernized" in 1940, clad in 1962 by architect Louis Gohmert and then "remodeled" in 1995 by Eubanks Harris Architects. Those who don't remember history are bound to repeat it.