Sunday, December 30, 2012
Friday, November 30, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
FINAL courthouse trip!! Rio Grande Valley.
Jourdanton CH, 1912.
Architect: Henry T. Phelps
Lovely inside and out! There is a neat old jail (1915) too. We had lunch at McBee Bar-B-Q afterwards - yum!
Replica of the old Jourdanton CH.
Tilden CH, 1930.
Architect: W. C. Stephenson
The addition was put on in 1965, the jail dates to 1880, when Tilden was called Dogtown. Locals still call it that.
Hebbronville CH, 1913.
Architect: Henry T. Phelps
There is an interesting old hotel / hospital falling apart across the street and the old jail is nearby too.
Zapata CH, 2005.
Architects: Morgan Spear Assoc.
For a newer courthouse, this one is nice. The old one was demolished.
We camped at Falcon State Park, which was nice. Saw the DEA blimp in the sky the following morning.
Rio Grande City CH, 1939.
Architect: Stanley Bliss
The jail inside looks like it's still in use. Rio Grande City is a cute little town that feels like very Old Mexico. There is a cool old hotel with a grotto (La Borde House).
Edinburg CH, 1954.
Architect: unknown
Monthly Market Days in front. The old jail is now part of a museum. Edinburg tore down a beautiful old Phelps courthouse (similar to Jourdanton) for this one.
Old Hidalgo County CH, Hidalgo, 1886.
Brownsville CH, 1978.
Architect: SHWC Inc.
Ugh!!! There are 2 older ones in town: the 1912 one looks like it's being renovated and the old 1912 jail is nearby too. The oldest one, dated 1882, is now the Rio Grande Masonic Lodge No. 81.
Lunched at Emy's Restaurant on our way to Port Isabel, which served really different Mexican food from what we're both used to.
Old Brownsville CH, 1912.
Older Brownsville CH, 1882.
Raymondville CH, 1922.
Architect: Henry T. Phelps
Sarita CH, 1922.
Architect: Henry T. Phelps
This courthouse is pretty and in good shape. Sarita is a cute little town.
Falfurrias CH, 1914.
Architect: Alfred Giles
Butter! Not anymore. But it used to be home to the Falfurrias Butter Factory.
Kingsville CH, 1914.
Architect: Atlee B. Ayres
The new wing was added on in 1966.
Alice CH, 1914.
Architect: Atlee B. Ayres
The 2 additions were put on in 1948 and 1949.
Lunched at El Capitale, which was pretty good!
San Diego CH, 1916.
Architects: Sanguinet, Staats & Gottlieb
This courthouse desperately needs restoration.
That is 253 courthouses; there are 254 total. We are saving the last one, the one here in Austin, Travis County, for last. We will be visiting that one on Saturday, December 1 and then going to Texas' oldest restaurant, Scholz Garten, for a huge party celebrating the completion of this project! The party will be from 3 - 6, if you're reading this, then you're invited! : ) Anne and Aaron
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Courtrooms pt. 2
Waxahachie courtroom.
Albany courtroom.
And now that we've seen all the courtrooms in our favorite 9 courthouses, we have made a decision! I'll call the Judge's Assistant on Monday to talk dates and make it official!!! This is probably the ONLY time in my life I've wished it was Monday already!!
Did you guess yet???
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Courtrooms, pt. 1
I can't remember if we've mentioned this on the blog, but Aaron and I are engaged (happened exactly in the middle of this project!) and are planning on getting married in a courthouse, specifically the courtroom, hopefully by the judge (we're not religious types). We aren't done with the tour yet, but only have 14 left to go: 13 in the Rio Grande Valley / South Texas, and our own Travis county here in Austin. Since we decided this summer that Marfa was too far away for a wedding, that automatically rules out the S. Texas courthouses, so as far as wedding plans go, we've seen all the ones we need to see. However, have no fear, we WILL finish - we have a 3-day weekend reserved in November for S. Texas, so keep your eyes peeled for that update. In the meantime, we have narrowed down the list - in June, we sent 27 letters to 27 judges inquiring about the possibility of using their courthouse for a wedding and the logistics and costs involved. 18 of them wrote us back, so of the 18, we've narrowed it down to 9 finalists - things like distance, size of courtrooms, judge's unwillingness to marry us on a Saturday were factors in that decision. Of the 9 finalists, we had only seen 1 courtroom (!), so we have to backtrack a little to go check out the courtrooms. When we started this project, we were just barely dating, so when we visited the closest courthouses (also some of the most beautiful it turns out), we weren't interested in going inside for any reason and we were doing our trips on weekends, when courthouses are closed. So, this post and the next one will be pictures of courtrooms - I'm not going to tell you which one is our favorite so far - feel free to guess! : )
Boerne - Not actually part of our trip on Friday, Oct. 5, but the only courtroom we'd already seen.
Lockhart courtroom.
Gonzales courtroom - we couldn't get in to photograph it properly because court was in session (you should have seen the hair on the prisoner!).
Goliad courtroom.
Hallettsville courtroom.
La Grange courtroom.
Giddings courtroom.
And by the way, the backtracking is more fun than the initial visit - just because the courthouse is gorgeous on the outside says nothing about the interior, so they're still big mysteries! There were definitely some surprises on this trip!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
FT. WORTH AREA TOUR, 7/30 - 7/31, 2012
Meridian, 1886.
Architect: J. J. Cane
The clock tower was modified in 1935; the courthouse is GORGEOUS inside and out! The staircases are the original wrought iron without welding and the courtroom is spacious. Cute town too!
Glen Rose, 1893.
Architect: John Cormack
Court isn't held here anymore, but the tiny courtroom is well-kept, modern, and ready to use. Court is now held across the street in a newer building. Glen Rose is a lovely little town.
Granbury, 1891.
Architect: W. C. Dodson
Lovely exterior, spacious courtroom inside with an awful paint job!
There is an old jail from 1885 and the town square was voted as the best town square in Texas by Texas Highways readers.
Weatherford, 1885.
Architects: Dodson & Dudley
Lovely courthouse with a big, gorgeous courtroom! The roundabout outside makes it really difficult to park. We had lunch at the Weatherford Downtown Cafe - yum! Weatherford is a nice town.
Decatur, 1895.
Architect: James Riely Gordon
Gorgeous! Perfect architecture! El Castile is an amazing private home that we thought might be the courthouse at first.
James Reilly Gordon photo, inside of Decatur, architect of this courthouse. This is the only photo we've seen of him and his courthouses are some of the most decadent ones in Texas - they look like wedding cake buildings!
Montague, 1912.
Architect: George Burnett
The old jail is next to it on the right. The jail is from 1927; quiet little town.
Gainesville, 1910.
Architects: Lang & Witchell
The interior is BEAUTIFUL! It reminded me of the old Houston courthouse.
Aaron inside of Gainesville, and the stained glass dome at the top.
Denton, 1896.
Architect: W. C. Dodson
Absolutely gorgeous! Amazing details inside and out. Denton seems like a cool town!
Interior of Denton courthouse.
Interior of Denton, looking down a few floors!
Ft. Worth, 1895.
Architects: Gunn & Curtis
GORGEOUS! Amazing details, inside and out. This is the only Texas courthouse built by these architects.
We had a terrific lunch at Vidalia Cafe in the Renaissance Hotel.
Interior of Ft. Worth, looking up at the dome. This is a gorgeous courthouse!
Interior of Ft. Worth, looking down. Love these rotundas!
Cleburne, 1912.
Architects: Lang & Witchell
The jail is built into the courthouse. Stunning interior, lovely exterior.
Interior of Cleburne - notice the symmetrical marble pieces - holy cow this one is gorgeous inside!
Cleburne's stained glass dome!
This is the map we've been using to keep track of the courthouses we've seen. The colors don't mean anything, other than that I wasn't as organized on the east Texas spring break trip, 2011. The white counties are the ones we have left - as of now, only 14!
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