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Jones County Courthouse
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Photo courtesy
Barclay
Gibson, April 2003 |
The Present
Jones County Courthouse
- Anson, TexasDate
- 1910
Architect - Elmer George Withers
Style - Beaux-arts
Material
- Brick
The Jones County Courthouse was completed at a cost of $100,000.
Photographer's
Note:
"The door on the side of the front entrance staircase leads
to the basement where there is a small county museum.
The architect of
this courthouse, Elmer George Withers, grew up in Stamford,
17 miles north of Anson on the Jones/Haskell County
line. Withers designed a similar looking courthouse
for Swisher County in 1909, but it was dramatically remodeled in 1962, removing
all of its Beaux-Arts style features." - Terry
Jeanson
Historical Markers:
Jones
County Courthouse Historical Marker
Jone
County Marker |
Jones
County Courthouse before remodeling
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
Photographer's
Note:
"The roof was remodeled shortly after this courthouse was
built, removing the turrets on the corner pavilions and shortening the height
of the clock tower." - Terry
Jeanson |
The
1910 Jones County Courthouse today
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2007 |
Historical
Marker TextJones
County CourthouseThe
Seventh Texas Legislature created Jones County in 1858 and named it for Anson
Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas. The Civil War, Reconstruction,
and the area's untamed wilderness combined to postpone the county's formal organization
until 1881. Voters selected Jones City, later renamed Anson,
as permanent county seat. The first permanent courthouse was a small frame building,
which served until the county purchased a hotel in 1884 for use as a courthouse.
An 1886 brick courthouse served the county for the next 24 years. In late 1909,
the Jones County commissioners court, led by County Judge J. R. Stinson, determined
that the growth of the county called for a larger courthouse. They selected Elmer
G. Withers of Stamford (15 mi. N) and the
Texas Building Company of Fort Worth as architect and contractor, respectively.
Completed in 1910, the Jones County courthouse is an excellent example of Beaux
Arts styling, with influences from the Arts and Crafts movement found in the decorative
painting uncovered during a 1990s rehabilitation on the ceiling of the district
courtroom. Other notable features include the statue of Lady Justice atop the
domed clock tower and the pedimented porticoes with flanking pairs of Ionic columns
on each façade. Constructed of brick and Pecos red sandstone, the Jones County
courthouse continues to stand as an important part of Anson's
architectural heritage and a center of politics and government for the citizens
of the county.
Recorded
Texas Historic Landmark - 2000 |
1936 Centennial
- Highway MarkerJones
CountySite of emigrant
trail, the frontier military road, and Fort
Phantom Hill, founded in 1851 to guard the military road. County created 1858
from Bexar and Bosque counties. Named for Anson
Jones (1798-1858), a veteran of San
Jacinto, minister to the U.S., Secretary of State and last President of the
Texas Republic. Phantom
Hill, in 1858-1861 a Butterfield Overland Mail Station, was in 1861-1865 a
Civil War patrol point, trying to curb frontier raids by Indians. The county was
recreated in 1876, organized 1881. Anson (at first
called Jones City) is county seat.
(1965) |
| A
closer view of the clock tower with a statue of Themis on top of the dome. Photo
courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2007 |
Jones
County Courthouse front entrance.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2007 |
Decorative
capitals in the main floor hallway.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2007 |
Detailed
artwork on the ceiling of the district courtroom.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2007 |
| "The
district courtroom retains its original two-story height, but the upper gallery
in the rear of the courtroom has been removed." - Terry
Jeanson, 2007 photo |
Jones
County Courthouse as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
More
early views of the Jones County Courthouse in Anson
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
| Postcard
courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
| Postcard
courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ | |
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