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County: Ellis
County Seat: Waxahachie
County Population: 111,360(2000)
Text and photos
by Sam Fenstermacher
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Ellis
County Courthouse
Clock tower, October 2002
Copyright Sam Fenstermacher |
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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.
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An
old postcard of the Ellis County Courthouse
Postcard courtesy
rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
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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. |
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Column
made of polished pink granite with red sandstone capital and base.
Note face
carved in column capital.
October 2002
Copyright Sam Fenstermacher |
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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. |
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Ellis
County Courthouse
October 2002
Copyright Sam Fenstermacher |
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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! |
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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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