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County:
Ellis
County Seat: Waxahachie
County Population:
111,360(2000)
Text and photos
by Sam Fenstermacher
|
Ellis County
Courthouse
Clock tower, October 2002
Copyright Sam Fenstermacher |
| | Ellis
County Courthouse
Constructed 1897
Architect J. Riely Gordon
Romanesque Revival Style
Designation National Register Listing - 1975
Texas Historic Landmark - 1969
1939 photo
courtesy TXDoT |
County
History
The Texas State Legislature created Ellis County on December 20, 1849 with land
drawn from Navarro County. Waxahachie was established as the county seat in August
1850 on land donated by Emory W. Rogers, a pioneer settler. The town name comes
from an Indian word meaning "cow", and it's also the name of a local creek.
Construction on the Waxahachie Tap Railroad was completed in September 1879.
The railroad carried Waxahachie's vast cotton crop to market. In 1881 the Waxahachie
Tap was absorbed by the Houston and Texas Central Railway, which extended the
rail line all the way to Fort Worth. In the following years more rail lines were
built to match the county's ever expanding agricultural output.
Like
so many other rural counties in this part of the state of Texas, Ellis County
had a period of great growth from about 1880 to 1930. By the 1920's Waxahachie
had a population of 7,958 and 200 businesses including three banks, three cottonseed
oil mills, five cotton gins, and two daily and two weekly newspapers. Profits
from the cultivation and processing of cotton drove this economic boom. Unfortunately,
when cotton prices dropped in the 1930's so did the local economy. |
| | An
old postcard of the Ellis County Courthouse
Postcard courtesy
rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ |
| | Ellis
County Courthouse
Postcard courtesy
rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
The
Town of Waxahachie
Today, remnants of late 19th Century
Waxahachie prosperity are apparent all around town. The large number of late Nineteenth
Century Victorian-style homes and buildings remaining today has given Waxahachie
the title of "The Gingerbread City". In fact, the town of Waxahachie has about
20% of all the buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places in
Texas.
The vintage Victorian-style homes combined with a picture perfect
courthouse square has made the perfect backdrop for several Hollywood movies.
Film footage for the 1967 classic "Bonnie and Clyde" and the Academy Award winning
"Tender Mercies" were both shot on location here. |
| | Column
made of polished pink granite with red sandstone capital and base. Note face
carved in column capital.
October 2002
Copyright Sam Fenstermacher
|
| | An
image illustrating the fine detail of the interior restoration of the Ellis County
Courthouse.
October 2002
Copyright Sam Fenstermacher |
The
Ellis County Courthouse
The Ellis County Courthouse was built from architectural plans created by J. Riely
Gordon. The building incorporates the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style
originally created by Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson and made popular
in Texas by J. Riely Gordon.
For the Ellis County Courthouse Gordon used
a floor-plan different from many other county courthouses in Texas of the same
vintage. Many county courthouses built in this time period had intersecting halls
on the first floor that created the rigidity required to support the weight of
the district courtroom positioned near the middle of the building on the second
floor. For the Ellis County Courthouse Gordon used a floor plan that provided
an open space at the center of the building first surrounded by a staircase then
surrounded by a gallery that provided access to offices and courtrooms. The large
second-floor courtroom was pushed off to one side of the building so the center
space was open all the way up to the clock tower. This open space at the center
of the courthouse created a chimney effect. Cool air was drawn in through first
floor windows toward the center of the building then straight up to the tower
where hot air was exhausted out of the building.
Besides the advantage
of superior ventilation, Gordon's design incorporated a circular form which worked
well with the Romanesque Revival architectural style. Turrets containing spiral
stairways and balconies incorporate readily with the circular form. The building
is further enhanced by the use of stone of contrasting colors. From the building's
base first gray and then pink granite are used. Red Pecos sandstone is used for
accent, and cream colored sandstone is also used sparingly on a few stringcourses. |
| | Ellis
County Courthouse
October 2002
Copyright Sam Fenstermacher |
| | Ellis
County Courthouse postcard
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/7Etxpstcrd/
|
| Ellis County's courthouse
is without a doubt one of the grandest old county courthouses in the Southwest.
To make it even more interesting the county recently spent about eleven million
dollars restoring the building. After years of restoration work, the courthouse
was reopened in the fall of 2002. The restoration was so detailed that they matched
the colors of the interior to those used when the building was originally built,
and the county bought red sandstone for repairs from the same query that produced
the stone used for construction in 1895. This is truly a good time to go see the
Ellis County Courthouse! |
| Bibliography:
Texas Historical Commission, Texas Historic Sites Atlas.
http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/,
2003.
"WAXAHACHIE, TX." The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/WW/hew2.html,
2003.
Copyright
© 2003 by Sam
Fenstermacher All rights reserved
All photos taken October 2002
People
Richard
Ellis by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" Column)
His
imagined likeness stands frozen in bronze outside the courthouse of the county
bearing his name, but Richard Ellis is a long way from being one of the more-recognized
figures in Texas history.... | |
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