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Hemphill County
Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2008 |
The
Present Hemphill County Courthouse
- Canadian, Texas
Built: 1909
Architect: Robert G. Kirsch
Contractors: Gillcoat and Skinner
Style: Classical Revival with Italianate details
Materials: Brick with stone accents |
HEMPHILL COUNTY
COURTHOUSES
Although formed
in 1876 with over fifty other counties in the Panhandle
and Southern Panhandle Plains, the area consisted primarily of
ranches until the arrival of the railroad in 1886 which spawned the
Hemphill County
towns of Glazier,
Canadian and Mendota in
1887. The county was officially organized in 1887 and the town of
Canadian was chosen as
the county seat. Named for its location on the south side of the Canadian
River, residents from a settlement north of the river named Clear
Creek (aka Hogtown,)
relocated to the site of Canadian
soon afterwards. The county was named for Texas Supreme Court Justice
John Hemphill. Hemphill was present at the Council
House Fight in San
Antonio in 1840 and also took part in the Somervell
expedition in 1842. Hemphill was known as the “John Marshall of
Texas” for the role he played in developing the state’s system of
law.
Hemphill County’s
first courthouse was constructed in Canadian
in 1887 and used for over twenty years. In 1890, a Wisconsin born
architect from St. Louis, Robert G. Kirsch, designed a two-story
red brick jail in Canadian,
the first permanent public building in the county. It was used as
a jail until 1982 and still stands behind the current courthouse.
The second and current courthouse, built in 1909, was also designed
by Kirsch. Along with courthouses in Wisconsin and Missouri, Kirsch
also designed the 1908
Randall County courthouse in Canyon.
The 1909 Hemphill County courthouse was built of red brick in a Classical
style with Italianate influences. A central tower framed by brick
pilasters looms over the front entrance, topped by bulls-eye windows,
brackets, broken pediments with modillions and a small, silver dome.
The building’s red brick is also accented by corbelling on the lower
floors and by white limestone around the windows, around the front
entrance and in the keystones over the top floor windows. The original
cost of constructing this courthouse was $31,278. In 1964, a renovation
replaced the original windows and doors with metal ones and a new
jail was built and attached to the rear of the courthouse in 1982
using a similar color of red brick.
Starting in 2011, the exterior of the 1909 courthouse received a major
face-lift. Part of the renovation included the repair of the limestone
sills, terra-cotta cornices, and cracks in the masonry. An interior
restoration was still in progress in 2014.
- Terry
Jeanson,
April
11, 2015
Sources:
The Handbook of Texas Online, Wanted: Historic County Jails
of Texas by Edward A. Blackburn, Jr., 2006, “From the People
to the People – The 1909 Randall County Courthouse: A Precedent in
Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation” by Elizabeth I. Louden,
B. Arch. A Thesis in Architecture, May 1989, Mid-Continental Restoration
Co., Inc. at http://midcontinental.com/caseDetail.asp?ID=44 |
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Hemphill County
Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2008 |
Hemphill County
Courthouse as it appeared in 1939
Photo
courtesy TXDoT |
| Photo
courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
Hemphill County
Courthouse in the 1920s
Postcard courtesy of texasoldphotos.com |
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