221 of 254 Wilbarger County Courthouse, Vernon, Texas. County Population: 13,535
Wilbarger County, Texas
"Wilbarger County is in northern Texas, along the Oklahoma border. It encompasses 947 square miles of rolling plains surfaced by sandy, loam, and waxy soils that support tall grasses, mesquite, and shinnery oak trees. Altitudes range from 1,050 to 1,400 feet above sea level. The area is drained by the Red and Pease rivers.
"The area that is now Wilbarger County was part of the buffalo hunting ground of the Wanderers Band of Comanches until the 1870s, when great buffalo hunts by whites destroyed the herds and United States Army campaigns removed the Indians. Wilbarger County was established in 1858 from lands formerly assigned to the Bexar District. It was named for settlers Josiah P. and Mathias Wilbarger. Though the area was within the boundary of the Peters colony, because of Indian hostilities it attracted no settlers until 1878, when the first settlement was made and the county was attached to Clay County for judicial purposes.
"Wilbarger County was organized in 1881, and the town of Vernon was designated the county seat; there were only fifty-six voters in the county at that time.
"In 1886 the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway built into Vernon, connecting the county to outside markets and encouraging immigration. The importance of the railroad to early development was recognized by local ranchers, who had donated rights of way."
John Leffler, "WILBARGER COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online
"The area that is now Wilbarger County was part of the buffalo hunting ground of the Wanderers Band of Comanches until the 1870s, when great buffalo hunts by whites destroyed the herds and United States Army campaigns removed the Indians. Wilbarger County was established in 1858 from lands formerly assigned to the Bexar District. It was named for settlers Josiah P. and Mathias Wilbarger. Though the area was within the boundary of the Peters colony, because of Indian hostilities it attracted no settlers until 1878, when the first settlement was made and the county was attached to Clay County for judicial purposes.
"Wilbarger County was organized in 1881, and the town of Vernon was designated the county seat; there were only fifty-six voters in the county at that time.
"In 1886 the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway built into Vernon, connecting the county to outside markets and encouraging immigration. The importance of the railroad to early development was recognized by local ranchers, who had donated rights of way."
John Leffler, "WILBARGER COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online
I visited Wilbarger County and photographed the courthouse in Vernon on Saturday, May 9, 2015.
View north on Main Street, from the northwest corner of the courthouse square in Vernon
Wilbarger County Courthouse 1890
Attributed to James Edward Flanders. Image courtesy of courthousehistory.com
Wilbarger County Courthouse 1928
Voelcker & Dixon, Architects. Image courtesy of courthousehistory.com
View of the northwest corner of the courthouse, at the intersection of Main and Pease Streets
The north façade of the courthouse, on Pease Street
The northeast corner of the square, at the intersection of Cumberland and Pease Streets
The east façade, on Cumberland Street
The west façade, on Main Street
The southwest corner of the courthouse, at the intersection of Main and Wilbarger Streets
The front façade of the courthouse faces south, on Wilbarger Street
A close-up view of the south façade
|
|
The offices of architects Voelcker & Dixon were located in Wichita Falls, just fifty miles south and east of Vernon. This was the first of nine Texas courthouses the firm designed. Click on the link for more information, including a list of the nine county courthouses by Voelcker & Dixon. Oddly, they didn't design the Wichita County courthouse, although Herbert Voelcker was the supervising architect during its construction in 1916-17.
The back of the courthouse mechanical & electrical equipment is on the north side of the building, at the east end
World War I memorial, the Doughboy, created by E. M. Viquesney, a Spencer, Indiana native
|
|
Headquarters building for the W.T. Waggoner Ranch, one of the largest contiguous ranches in the U.S., with over 510,000 acres
July 15, 2015: US 287 in Vernon
