242 of 254 Carson County Courthouse, Panhandle, Texas. County Population: 6,182
Carson County, Texas
"Carson County, in the center of the Panhandle and on the eastern edge of the Texas High Plains, is bounded on the north by Hutchinson County, on the west by Potter County, on the south by Armstrong County, and on the east by Gray County. The county occupies 900 square miles of level to rolling prairies surfaced by dark clay and loam that make the county almost completely tillable and productive. Carson County ranges from 3,200 to 3,500 feet in elevation.
"Carson County was established in 1876, when its territory was marked off from the Bexar District. The county was named for Samuel P. Carson, the first secretary of state of the Republic of Texas.
"In the later 1880s the railroads reached Carson County. By 1886 the Southern Kansas Railway, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, had built from Kiowa, Kansas, to the Texas-Indian Territory border. The Southern Kansas of Texas Railway was formed to extend the line into Texas. Panhandle City, a temporary railhead, was founded in 1887 in anticipation of the railroad line, which finally reached the town in 1888.
"The establishment of ranches and railroad construction led to a need for local government. A petition for organization was circulated through the county in 1888, and in November of that year an election was held. Panhandle, the county's only town at that time, was designated the county seat."
Handbook of Texas Online, Donald R. Abbe, "Carson County"
I visited Carson County and photographed the courthouse in Panhandle on May 6, 2016.
The former Santa Fe Railway's main line cuts across the county. This is a very busy railroad!
The street grid is laid out parallel and perpendicular to the Santa Fe Railway tracks
Carson County Courthouse 1909
Designed and built by the Falls City Construction Company of Louisville KY. Photograph courtesy of TXDOT
The cornerstone is all that remains of the 1909 courthouse. It's on the southeast corner of the courthouse square
Carson County Courthouse 1950
The courthouse square. The building faces east/northeast on Main Street. There are doors on the north and south sides, but nothing at all on the west side of the building
The front facade of the courthouse on Main Street
Like many other courthouses in the panhandle, the Carson County building is surrounded by lush grass and shade trees
The view of Main Street from the courthouse steps
The front facade of the courthouse
Oddly, there's no railroad in the frieze depicting the economic "engines" of Carson County
The northeast corner of the courthouse
A parking lot occupies the northern end of the square, with access to the north-south building axis
As noted above, the courthouses is located in the center of the square. Unlike other such arrangements, the Carson County courthouse doesn't acknowledge all four sides of the square. This is the west facade, and it's clearly the back of the building. I wonder if this was in anticipation of a future addition in this area
A large, empty lawn on the west side of the courthouse square
The southwest corner of the courthouse square
The south facade of the courthouse
Another view of the south side of the building
The southeast corner of the building
A view of the courthouse from the southeast corner of the square
In the first floor corridor, looking south
The stairs at the north end of the building
The 100th Judicial District Courtroom is on the second floor
The view looking north on Main Street from the railway station. This is downtown Panhandle
The historic Santa Fe Railway Station is now the Panhandle City Hall
Approaching Panhandle TX from the northeast, on US 60