Now, back to the Olympics on NBC...
(When I return home from this road trip I will blog about the courthouses I've visited this weekend. For now I'll confine my remarks and photographs to the landscape and other points of interest, to me, at least.) This morning I left Odessa, in Ector County, and drove west on I-20. First stop, Monahans, seat of Ward County. Yet another courthouse facade hidden behind trees. Back on I-20, moving into Reeves County the speed limit went from 75 to 80 MPH. At that speed I could have reached El Paso in less than 3 hours. Instead, I pulled off the road in Pecos, where I photographed the courthouse (more trees obscuring the front of the building) and had lunch. Full of TexMex food, I headed north on US Highway 285 and then turned east on Texas Highway 302, crossing the Pecos River and entering Loving County. The Pecos River runs 926 miles from the mountains of New Mexico to the Rio Grande River in Texas. North of the Highway 302 crossing, a dam creates the Red Bluff Reservoir. Therefore, the Pecos River is not much of a river where I crossed it this afternoon. What water there was came from rains the previous 2 days. I have been looking forward to visiting Loving County for several years. Ever since I learned that it is home to the fewest citizens of any county in Texas, 82 of them in the 2010 census. Since I live in the county with the largest population in Texas, Harris, with over 4 million people, visiting a county with so few people was something to look forward to on my courthouse tour. Well, Loving County, like all of the Permian Basin is very busy with oil drilling activities and was not the quiet, isolated place I imagined. Traffic on 302 was non-stop and never quiet! Too many trucks and pickups for that. Here's a photograph taken from the Pecos River bridge at the county line. My guess is there are more than 100 people residing in Loving County now. The small crossroads community of Mentone, the only "town" in the county, is home to a small, 1935 era courthouse and, to my surprise, a new courthouse annex, too. Progress has come to Loving County. One photograph from Mentone: the small community church, dating from 1910. It's the oldest building in the county. Not that there are many buildings in Loving County... From Mentone I continued east on 302 into Winkler County and Kermit, the county seat and home to Jim Sharp. Once again, the front facade of the courthouse, a David Castle design, is almost completely hidden by mature trees. From Kermit I drove east and passed north of Odessa on my way to Midland, seat of Midland County. The Midland courthouse is another example, like Scurry County, for instance, of the art of absorbing an older courthouse building into a brand, new modern courthouse! However, more surprises awaited me in downtown Midland. Signs in the doors of the courthouse announced a move to a new county courthouse! I will have to find out what's going to happen to the old one. The new courthouse is just a few blocks north and is a make-over of an existing highrise office building. Very boring, but, I'm sure, practical and efficient, and a good use of the taxpayers money, etc. I'll be on the road tomorrow, visiting Andrews, Seminole, Lamesa, and, for a second time, Gail, before returning to the Midland Airport and my flight to Houston.
Now, back to the Olympics on NBC...
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Day two began with an 8:00 AM departure from my hotel in Odessa. I arrived back at the hotel a few minutes before 5:00 PM. A long day, a good day. I'm tired. 7 new counties: Martin, Howard, Glasscock, Reagan, Upton, Crane and Ector. The morning weather was nice but warm. Then, in the afternoon the thunderstorms formed quickly and I found myself in some very heavy rain as I drove from Rankin to Crane on Texas 329. And, the temperature dropped to 68 degrees in the middle of the afternoon! The photograph above sums up the day: dark clouds and oil. (The flames are burning off natural gas.) This part of the Permian Basin is very busy. I was nearly run off the road more than once by large trucks moving very quickly (80 mph +) on 2 lane roads. Lots of drilling rigs everywhere. Saturday I will turn west, visiting Monahans in Ward County, Pecos in Reeves County, Mentone in Loving County, and Kermit in Winkler County. Loving County is, of course, the least populated county in Texas. In 2010 its total
population was 82 people. Just by visiting I'll raise the population significantly! Now, back to the Olympics... Left Houston Hobby Airport this afternoon on Southwest Airlines flight 2888, bound for Midland. As usual these days, the flight was full and left late. Mark, in the middle seat, and I talked the entire trip, making the time pass quickly. Of course, we discussed Texas counties and courthouses, too. As we approached the Permian Basin the weather became an issue: thunderstorms were filling the afternoon skies. The flight attendants sit down as the aircraft wove between impressive thunderheads on approach to the airport. From my window I had a view of hundreds of oil wells scattered across the landscape, connected by roads that, from the air, created an intricate, organic pattern.
We landed in a light rain that turned heavy as I was about to leave the terminal in search of my rental car. I hadn't thought to bring an umbrella! After waiting a bit, I gave up and accepted my wet fate. The temperature was 73 degrees as I left the airport. Not the west Texas I remember. I drove through the cool rain to Odessa, on the Black Sea. No, Odessa, on the Permian Basin. It always reminds me of an early record album by the Bee Gees titled "Odessa." I have a copy at home, completed with a red velet cover. Really. Back on topic. I checked into, where else, a Marriott in Odessa, across the street from the Music City Mall. Huh? Is Odessa the "music city?" I'll look into that later. Friday morning, I'll begin a 3 day, 15 county road trip through the Permian Basin of Texas. East on I-20 past Midland to Stanton and Big Spring, then south to Garden City and Big Lake. Turning west at Big Lake to Rankin and then northwest to Crane before returning to Odessa. About 235 miles total. I'll visit 6 county seats, plus 2 ghost towns that were former county seats and the ruins of their courthouses. Goodnight. First, thanks to all of you who alerted me to the typo in my last blog post. It's Rockwall County, not "Rockwell." Second, I've spent some time looking into the size of this, the smallest county in Texas in area. Here's a brief history of the county from the Rockwall County website: "In 1836, the area was established as part of Nacogdoches County, and when Texas joined the Union in 1845, it was included in Henderson County. Kaufman County was formed in 1847, and the region now known as Rockwall County was placed in Kaufman County. Citizens thought the county seat of Kaufman was too inconvenient, and in 1873, Rockwall County was formed." The county website says this about the size of Rockwall County: "Rockwall County is the smallest county in Texas, covering only 147 square miles." This number agrees with the Texas Historical Marker text found in the 100 block of S. Goliad Street in Rockwall: "First settled in the 1840s, this region was a part of Kaufman County until 1873, when Rockwall County was created. With an area of 147 square miles, this is the smallest of Texas' 254 counties. The county and city of Rockwall were named for an underground formation of rock discovered in the early 1850s. Crossed by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, Rockwall county is an area of fertile farmland. The location here of the aluminum industry and the creation of Lake Ray Hubbard from the East Fork of the Trinity River diversified the local economy in recent years. (1976)" On the other hand, Wikipedia lists a different area for Rockwall County: "According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 149 square miles (390 km2), the smallest county in Texas, of which 129 square miles (330 km2) is land and 20 square miles (52 km2) is (13.39%) water." Going to the U.S. Census Bureau's Rockwall County "Geography QuickFacts" website, I find that the area of Rockwall County in 2010 is 127.04 square miles. I believe this "area" is in fact, dry land area, not including the portion of the county that is underwater. I'm going with the official Rockwall County website: 147 square miles. Which brings up an interesting fact about Rockwall County. Approximately 14% of its original land area was flooded in the late 1960's to create what is now Lake Ray Hubbard. Think about it: for the smallest county in Texas a "loss" of 14% percent of its buildable (and taxable) land (about 20 square miles) is a significant event! On the other hand, the county suddenly had a LOT of new waterfront property. Here's some background on what Lake Ray Hubbard: "Ray Hubbard Reservoir is a 22,745-acre impoundment constructed on the East Fork of the Trinity River by the City of Dallas in 1968 to provide water for municipal, industrial, and recreational purposes. Ray Hubbard Reservoir is located one-mile east of Rockwall and lies within Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Kaufman counties." Let's compare some maps of Rockwall County to see the impact of Lake Ray Hubbard on the county. For these maps, I have to credit and thank a website I found today while researching this topic: THE PORTAL TO TEXAS HISTORY. The website is http://texashistory.unt.edu/ Here's their description of this remarkable online resource: "The Portal is a gateway to Texas history materials. You may discover anything from an ancestor's picture to a rare historical map. From prehistory to the present day, you can explore unique collections from Texas libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, genealogical societies, and private family collections. The Portal continues to grow as additional partners contribute digital versions of their collections. We hope you'll return often to discover our latest additions." Back to Rockwall County. I spent a lot of time online searching for downloadable maps of the county illustrating conditions "before" Lake Ray Hubbard was "impounded" in 1968-70. I had very little success until I stumbled across The Portal to Texas History website. I can already tell that The Portal to Texas History will join my list of "go to" websites as I work on the Texas Courthouse website. Let's start with a Land Map of Rockwall County from 1874, a year after the county was formed. I've overexposed it so you can see the land plats. The East Fork of the Trinity River runs north-south just inside the western boundary of Rockwall County, on the left side of the map. The East Fork of the Trinity River would, in 1968, become Lake Ray Hubbard. But, in 1874 it was just a river. (The dark line running west to northeast across the county is a railroad.) Clearly, at the time, a lot of people owned land in what is now a lake. Here's another "before" view. A 1923 county soils map that also illustrates the pre-lake county lands. The soil "types" are color-coded and the green color on the west side of the county indicates "Trinity Clay" soils. Below, are two road maps of Rockwall County. The one on the left is dated 1961. The one on the right is from 1972. The impact of Lake Ray Hubbard on the geography of the county is very apparent. Like I said, a lot of new waterfront property was created. Here's a larger image of the 1972 map. Notice that portions of Rockwall County on the west side of the lake (in the red rectangle) were now physically separated from the rest of the county. If you're in the part of Rockwall County west of the lake and north of Interstate 30, look for Dalrock Road. It's median is the dividing line between Rockwall and Dallas Counties. From what I can tell, Rockwall County is substantially better off as a result of flooding 20 square miles of it's 147 square miles. All joking aside, the land lost to Lake Ray Hubbard isn't missed. The new recreational uses of the lake, not to mention the source of water for the surrounding area, is a positive improvement, and the waterfront property in Rockwall County is proving very valuable as this county has become a highly desirable address in the Dallas area.
(Next Saturday, July 28, I'll be visiting Loving County, the other "smallest" county in Texas, with a population of 82.) Many Texas counties share their name with the county seat. I haven't counted them, but it's not uncommon. Think of Bandera, Bastrop, Burnet, Dallas, Denton, Eastland, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, and so on...
A few add the word "City" to the county seat, but they're otherwise the same name. For example, Karnes City is the seat of Karnes County and Sterling City is the seat of Sterling County. Of the 158 counties I've officially visited, three of them take a different approach. The name of the county and the name of the county seat are taken from the first and last name of the person (Okay, the man, I have yet to visit a county named after a woman!) the county is named after. To wit. 1. Gail (county seat of), Borden County: Gail Borden 2. Anson (county seat of) Jones County: Anson Jones The third county got it backswards for some reason. 3. McKinney (county seat of) Collin County: McKinney, Collin This intrigues me. Why would the county have been named for Collin McKinney and used his first name in lieu of his last name? It's not as if there was already a McKinney County. Any ideas why it's "Collin" County and not "McKinney" County? Regardless of its backwards name, Collin County is sure growing quickly! Click here. To change the subject, just how "small" is Rockwall County? I've found figures of 147 and 149 square miles online and even 129 square miles, if you subtract the 20 square miles of the county that are under water! On Monday I'm calling the county to find out the official size of this little bitty county. Thursday, June 28. Up early and looking for distant views of the Denton County courthouse. The view from the Texas Women's University campus was perfect. In the morning light the courthouse towers looked sureal. This W.C. Dodson designed courthouse has been preserved and now serves as a museum and offices for the county. Headed north on I-35 and soon arrived in Gainesville, seat of Cooke County. A couple of more miles and I would have crossed the Red River into Oklahoma. The tower of the Cooke County courthouse is visible on the skyline. The 1910 era courthouse occupies the center of a square in downtown Gainesville. The building was designed by the Dallas firm of Lang & Witchell in a Beaux Arts meets Louis Sullivan/Frank Lloyd Wright design that is very handsome, very much like the Johnson County courthouse in Cleburne by the same architects. I especially enjoyed the newly restored interiors. The colors and applied ornament, including the metal railings, are simply beautiful. Gainesville is a railroad town so please indulge my passion for photographing trains and train stations. Turning east at Gainsville, I drove to Sherman, seat of Grayson County. It was noon so I parked in the courthouse square and began looking for a restaurant. I couldn't help but notice that the Grayson County courthouse was surrounded by trees! This would be yet another difficult building to capture whole! Across Travis Street from the courthouse I came a upon a restaurant with a most interesting name: Fulbelli's! The location was in a historic building, Kelly Square, that featured a mall-like interior. The restaurant was on the mezzanine level and included a carriage. I wonder how that found its way up the stairs. I had a delightful meal and soon understood the true meaning of the restauarant's name. Think about it... Here's another plug: www.facebook.com/fulbellis With a full belly I made my way out into the heat of north Texas and circled the Grayson County courthouse, looking for a break in the trees through which I could see the entire building. Alas, it's not possible. I did find the twin courtrooms on either end of the second floor to be beautiful examples of a restrained neo-classical modernism. And, they still have the original wall-mounted fans! Please don't ever take them down! Time to move on. I merged into heavy traffic on southbound U.S. Highway 75 and headed for Collin County. The guidebook to Texas Courthouses by Dr. Kelsey illustrates the 1979 Collin County courthouse in McKinney. It's brown brick and has all of the majesty that a 1970's "modern" office building could muster. Regardless, the guidebook promised that the earlier, historic courthouse still survived a few blocks from the new courthouse. Here's the 1874 (remodeled in 1927) courthouse in the McKinney square. It's now a performing arts center surrounded by a very up-scale shopping/dining district. I circled the square and wilted in the 100+ degree heat. Finding a cool gelato shop, I stopped for a vanilla-rasberry swirl gelato and a glass of water. "Where is the new courthouse from here?" I asked the clerk. "Oh, they tore that one down and built a new courthouse up on Highway 75," was the answer. Huh? Built in 1979 and already gone! Collin County IS growing very quickly. To confirm, I walked a couple of blocks to the location of the "new" courthouse and found this. Having seen photos of the now demolished courthouse, I have to say this is a great improvement... Since I'd driven right past the latest "new" Collin County courthouse on my way into McKinney and not noticed it, I decided in the interest of time to proceed on to Rockwall County and save the current Collin County courthouse for another trip. You can find images of it and the 1979 version online if you're interested. Just search for Collin County courthouse photographs. Leaving McKinney, I drove east and then south to Rockwall County, the smallest, by area, county in Texas. At about 11 miles square, it's truly a small county. Take a look at the map on the Rockwall County page. Given the size of the county, the diminutive courthouse is just right. A dollhouse of a courthouse, if you will. Of course, this being Texas, the building is surrounded by trees and vehicles. Here's the front view of the courthouse. And, so I reached county number 158. Weary, but not worn, I joined the cars and trucks on I-30 and headed west, into Dallas County. It took an hour, but I reached Love Field in time for my flight to Houston on Southwest Airlines.
I traveled to Fort Worth on business on Wednesday, June 27, and then took a vacation day in order to visit 5 counties in the DFW area. I also took the opportunity to take additional photographs of the Tarrant County courthouse in Fort Worth. The high temperature each day was well over 100 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Thank goodness for air-conditioning! It was so hot the mounted police were resting their horses in the shade in front of the Tarrant county office building. They attracted the attention of some passing children. I'll be updating the Tarrant County page soon with new photographs of the historic courthouse and various county buildings in the vicinity of the courthouse. Meantime, here's a view of the historic courthouse and the adjacent post-modern civil courts building, now closed for reasons I'll have to discover. I completed my business in Fort Worth in time to take a late afternoon drive west through Weatherford (Parker County) and into Palo Pinto County. On my way through Weatherford, seat of Parker County, I stopped long enough to take some photographs of the W.C. Dodson designed courthouse from the west, on US Highway 180. This highway passes through 10 county seats between Fort Worth and the New Mexico state line. I've now visited 8 of the 10 and by the end of July I will have photographed all 10 courthouses on US 180. Palo Pinto County's seat is Palo Pinto, a very small town (less than 500 population) in the center of the county. The 1940 era courthouse dominates the town square. I also found another wonderful "rock" building in Palo Pinto: the Methodist Church. Running through the middle of Palo Pinto County is the Brazos River. Highway 180 crosses the river between Palo Pinto and the largest town in the county, Mineral Wells. I stopped to photograph the river from the highway bridge and wished I could join the people enjoying the cool(er) waters on that hot summer afternoon. Mineral Wells, largest community in Palo Pinto County, is located on the eastern side of the county. Mineral Wells, with a population under 20,000, is home to a very large and very empty relic of its past, the Baker Hotel. Opened in 1929 to cater to the needs of Texans looking to enjoy the mineral springs for which the town in named, the Hotel Baker stands 14 stories high. Here's a postcard view: It closed its doors in 1963. And it's still around in 2012. To learn more about this fascinating building and the city that surrounded it, go to http://www.bakerhotel.us/ Here's a current view of the abandoned building. Mineral Wells is home to many historic buildings, but the Baker Hotel "stands" out given its size and height. Mineral Wells is less than an hour's drive from Fort Worth. It's worth the visit.
I finished my day in Denton, where I spent a restful night in the Fairfield Inn on I-35W. I had dinner at a local Italian restaurant that shall remain nameless. Let's just say the food was not worth bloggin about... On Tuesday, May 22, I returned to Houston from Abilene via Highway 36. Along the way I stopped in Gatesville, seat of Coryell County, to revisit the courthouse. I'd first photographed this historic courthouse on May 14, 2009. Here's a view of the courthouse as I approached it. The building is a W.C. Dodson design, dating from 1898. As I photographed the courthouse, a pickup drove by with an old-timer at the wheel and his dog leaning out the window. He slowed down and spoke to me: "It's sure purdy, ain't it?" I sure agree. After lunch, I proceeded down Highway 36, pass the north entrance to Fort Hood and through Temple. My next stop was Cameron, the seat of Milam County. I'd taken some photos of the Milam County courthouse on the first day of this trip, but I wanted to spend some time in the square today. Cameron has a nice, 2 block courthouse square. The courthouse occupies one block and faces onto a tree-lined park on the other block. The building dates from 1892 and was designed by the architectural firm of Larmour & Watson. Like many Texas courthouses, this one is surrounded by mature trees that shade, and screen, the building. This makes phtotographing the courthouse difficult. See what I mean? I know, I could shoot it in the winter, but that's not my preference. I would rather work around the trees, so to speak. This was the last courthouse I visited during my May road trip. All total, I was able to visit 17 courthouses in 6 days on the road. 10 new counties and 7 repeats. It was a great trip. 153 counties down, 101 to go!
While visiting with relatives in Abilene I took time to tour the downtown area on Sunday afternoon. I wanted to photograph the Taylor County courthouse again, along with some of the significant buildings in downtown Abilene. The Taylor County page (courthouse #69) is now updated and contains many new photographs. Here's a view of the east facade with the recently completed building for prisoner drop-off and pick-up in the foreground. Now, on to Day Four of the Road Trip. I left Abilene on Monday morning, May 21 and drove west to Colorado City, seat of Mitchell County. Colorado City is, like Abilene and Sweetwater, on Interstate 20. So, it was a quick trip. The Mitchell County courthouse was designed by Abilene architect David S. Castle in 1924. It's a run of the mill classical revival building in average condition for its age. Unfortunately, at some point, with the installation of air conditioning, the majority of windows on the upper floors were covered over. This approach to keeping buildings cooler is common in west Texas. It works, but at the cost of natural light and appearances in general. By the way, it's named Colorado City because it's on the Colorado River, like several other Texas county seats: Robert Lee (Coke County), Ballinger (Runnels County), Austin (Travis County), Bastrop (Bastrop County), La Grange (Fayette County), Columbus (Colorado County), and Wharton (Wharton County). To the best of my knowledge and belief, Colorado City completes the list of eight county seats on the Colorado River. Whew! Leaving Colorado City I drove south on Highway 163 through beautiful, if desolate country, to Sterling City, seat of Sterling County. Here's a nicely sited ranch house, a few miles north of Sterling City. This was my second visit to Sterling City. Uncle Clark and I came through here on May 11, 2009. This was early on in my courthouse project (Sterling County is #6) and I didn't take nearly enough photographs that day. So, here I was again, on a beautiful spring day. By the way, this courthouse is also the work of Abilene architect David S. Castle. The courthouse is in very good, original condition. I love the map of Texas with metal silhouette sculptures! During this visit I also stopped by the restored Sterling City railroad station. It's a classic train station, abeit without a railroad! Leaving Sterling City I traveled one of my favorite Texas roads, State Highway 158 east to Robert Lee in Coke County. This road leaves Sterling City in the Concho River valley and quick climbs onto a broad mesa; a tabletop now covered in wind turbines. For mile after mile, on both sides of the road, the hugh white windmills turn slowly in the wind. Then, as the you near the Colorado River valley, the road suddenly descends into a very different landscape, complete with cliffs and low mountains on all sides. Not exactly the Rockies, but pretty good for west Texas. Approaching Robert Lee, the nearly dry E.V. Spencer Reservoir is a reminder of the ongoing drought in these parts of Texas. But, I was here to re-visit the Coke County courthouse. The courthouse was closed on the day of my first visit in 2009. I wanted to see the interior space behind the very modern glass block sun-screens on the exterior of this Wyatt Hedrick design. This was my chance. The effect is marvelous. The light is subdued and not harsh at all. A far better solution than simply covering over the windows as was done in Mitchell County. Well done, Mr. Hedrick. Here's the exterior. I had a very good lunch at a diner in Robert Lee (chicken fried steak, of course!) and then headed north to Abilene on another lovely road, U.S. Highway 277. Don't tell everyone, but the landscape south of Abilene is beautiful. Too bad Abilene was located by the Texas & Pacific Railway and not by yours truly. If it were up to me, Abilene would have been located in Happy Valley, a real location on Highway 277. I arrived back at the Brannan's house in time for Clark and me to visit the Abilene Public Library in search of information on the architect David S. Castle. We were pleased to find a number of documents, including many press clippings about David Castle. I'm doing research on his life and practice in Abilene, where he lived and was an active architect from 1914 until his death in 1956. He designed seven Texas courthouses, along with an impressive portfolio of residential and commercial buildings. Here are some examples found in Abilene. I left Albuquerque on Saturday morning, May 19, and, several hours later, re-entered Texas in the afternoon on US 380 in Yoakum County. Plains, the county seat, is on the Llano Estacado. It's an out of the way town, west of Brownfield and just 16 miles from Bronco, on the New Mexico state line. There are 2 courthouses in Plains, the current one dates from 1949. Just west of the current courthouse is the 1927 courthouse, now a museum. Heading east on US 380 it's 32 miles to Brownfield, seat of Terry County. This is flat land, devoted to large scale farming and oil, lots of oil, baby! The 1925 Terry County courthouse is undergoing a restoration. So, I'll be returning to Brownfield another day. Here's the current state of construction. 28 miles east of Brownfield is the seat of Lynn County, Tahoka. I haven't been able to determine the source of the word Tohoka, but I assume it's a Native American word. The town is in the center of the county and due south of Lubbock. The 1916 courthouse is in average condition. A restoration would be appropriate. It was 5:00 PM when I left Tohaka. Driving east, I entered Garza County and drove through Post again, turning south and east on US 84. From there, it was an hour and a half drive to Abilene and the home of my aunt and uncle.
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AuthorLeonard G. Lane, Jr., AIA Archives
May 2016
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