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The current 1928
Tom Green County courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2017 |
Date: 1928
Architect: Anton F. Korn
Style: Classical Revival
Material: Brick and stone
As of 2017, plans were underway to remodel the interior of the courthouse
which will include the historic restoration of the district courtrooms
to their 1928 condition. |
The 1928 Tom
Green County Courthouse as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
North side of
Tom Green County courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2017 |
Courthouse entrance
colonnade
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2017 |
Fountain in front
of the courthouse dedicated to San Angelo's first mayor, George Julien
Bird.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2017 |
Dedication
on the entablature over the front entrance
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2017 |
Photographer's
Note:
Along with the date of county organization (1875) and the date San
Angelo was incorporated (1903), there is a statement on the front
of the parapet roof over the entrance that reads: "To the memory of
the heroic pioneers of West Texas, this building is dedicated. Men's
homage and their love shall never cease to follow them." - Terry
Jeanson |
Courthouse dedication
plaque on the southeast corner
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2017 |
| Postcard
courtesy www.rootsweb.com/%7Etxpstcrd/ |
Courthouse and
courthouse grounds
Postcard
courtesy www.rootsweb.com/%7Etxpstcrd/ |
Date: 1885
Architect: W. W. Larmour
Style: Second Empire
Material: Stone
After the Ben
Ficklin flood, the county seat was moved to San
Angelo in 1883 and a third, stone courthouse was built in 1885.
It was designed in a Second Empire style by San
Antonio architect W. W. Larmour and had Mansard cupolas on the
corner pavilions, bracketed pediments, roof ventilators and a central,
truncated clock tower. Plans for this courthouse were originally submitted
by contractor J.H. Walker. When Larmour learned that Walker was using
his plans, he sued the contractor, but by that time, the county had
fired Walker and replaced him with John C. Lillis. Larmour sued the
new contractor and was awarded $2,005.00.
Larmour's construction superintendent was Oscar Ruffini, who later
sent the plans for this courthouse to his brother, Frederick, from
which they both derived the designs for their popular Second Empire
style courthouses. The 1885 courthouse was demolished in 1927 when
the current courthouse was being built. Some of the stone and the
bell from the 1885 courthouse was placed into the 1929 Emmanuel
Episcopal Church at S. Randolph Street and W. Harris Street, just
northwest of the current courthouse.
Sources:
The Texas Historical Commission's County Atlas at atlas.thc.state.tx.us
and
The Handbook of Texas Online at tshaonline.org/handbook. |
 |
The 1885 Tom
Green County courthouse in San Angelo
Postcard courtesy of courthousehistory.com |
The second Tom
Green County courthouse, completed in February of 1882, was a rectangular,
Greek-Revival style, two-story stone building with a hipped roof.
The courthouse had five bays across the front and back, separated
by pilasters, three bays on the sides and central cylindrical tower.
After surviving the Ben
Ficklin flood of August 24, 1882 (some sources say the courthouse
was destroyed,) the materials from this courthouse were used to build
a school in San Angelo, c.1883, which
was a copy of the former courthouse.
Sources:
The Texas Historical Commission's County Atlas at atlas.thc.state.tx.us
and
The Handbook of Texas Online at tshaonline.org/handbook. |
| The
1882 Tom Green County Courthouse in Ben
Ficklin. Photo from old newspaper clipping, no date or name of
paper |
The first Tom
Green County courthouse was a 40' x 60' one-story jacale (adobe-like
structure) with three rooms. It was donated by sheriff James Spears
and Francis Corbett Taylor, a close friend of the town's namesake.
The 1876 courthouse was destroyed in the flood of 1882.
Sources:
The Texas Historical Commission's County Atlas at atlas.thc.state.tx.us
and
The Handbook of Texas Online at tshaonline.org/handbook. |
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