Junction CH, 1929.
Architect: Henry T. Phelps
Cute town in the South Llano River valley. South Llano River State Park is great camping and kayaking; Cooper's BarBQue is always awesome!
Past experience: Kimble County cops are ALERT - don't speed in Kimble County!
Sonora CH, 1891.
Architect: Oscar Ruffini
Old part of Sonora is lovely, there is an 1891 jail that doesn't look like it's still in use.
Ozona CH, 1902.
Architect: Oscar Ruffini
Lovely! The old jail is dated 1892, cool, and still in use, but probably not for inmates. The First Baptist Church is attached to the new jail - captive audience? : ) Old Ozona is lovely; we had lunch at the Hitchin' Post, which was good!
Ozona jail is connected to the Baptist church - captive audience? Tee hee! : ) (Jail is the stone building in the back, definitely connected.)
Ft. Stockton CH, 1912.
Architect: L. B. Westerman
There is a jail from 1883. The courthouse is nicer on the inside than the outside.
We camped at Balmorhea State Park, which is incredible! There is a huge, spring-fed pool there that is just wonderful.
Balmorhea Pool.
Our campsite at Balmorhea State Park. We have tents but chose to sleep on our cots - cooler that way and more comfortable.
Rankin CH, 1958.
Architect: David S. Castle
The former county seat, Upland, has the original courthouse, but it's on private property and inaccessible to the public.
Crane CH, 1958.
Architects: Groos, Clift & Ball
Odessa CH, 1968.
Architects: Peters & Fields
The 1934 CH is actually under that ugly facade, which was added on in 1968 around the old courthouse.
Look for the jackrabbit statue.
Midland CH, 2010 renovation of existing building.
Possibly the "greenest" courthouse expansion?
Architect: unknown
The old one was built in 1930 by Voelcker & Dixon; the 1974 remodel was by Dixon & Stanley - relations?
Andrews CH, 1939.
Architect: W. T. Strange
There were additions in 1955 & 1960, which are hard to see - blended with the old parts well.
Andrews is one of the biggest oil-producing areas in the US!
Seminole CH, 1919.
Architects: Sanguinet & Staats
There was an addition in 1955.
Kermit CH, 1929.
Architect: David S. Castle
We got a personal tour by the Administrative Assistant to the Judge, including a ride in the oldest elevator in any Texas courthouse: a door to slide, a gate to slide, then a crank to turn - until we were approximately at the right floor! We could feel the draft in the elevator shaft as we went up & down. The courthouse has been restored by the Texas Historical Commission and a lot of the wood trim, blinds and furniture are original.
Kermit elevator.
Monahans CH, 1940.
Architects: Townes & Funk
There are a couple of additions here. There's a nice park next to the courthouse.
We camped at Monahans Sandhills State Park - you can see our car and shelter in the distance! It's park status could come to an end though - currently the land is a 100-year lease to the state, so when that lease is up, the owners could terminate it and drill for oil instead (the region is loaded with it and so is Monahans). Visit it while you still can.
Pecos CH, 1937.
Architects: Trost & Trost
The first rodeo was here in Pecos!
Mentone CH, 1935.
Architect: Evan J. Wood
Loving County is the least populous county in the country - only 82 people in the whole county as of 2010! There is no hospital or school, only a courthouse and a post office.
There is a cool map inside with handwritten notes on it by Charles Goodnight himself - notes about the cattle drives. Things like "500 cattle died here" and "site of skirmish with Indians". There were also all the brands of the time around the border, as if to help map readers identify them on the spot.
Van Horn CH, 1964.
Architects: Pierce, Norris, Pace & Assoc.
We had lunch at Chuy's, which is known for it's John Madden shrine. Apparently, John Madden doesn't fly anywhere, and when he's driving on I-10, he always stops at Chuy's for meals. So Chuy's has a mural, a chair and a dish named for him.
Sierra Blanca CH, 1919.
Architects: Fuetell & Hardie
The only adobe courthouse in Texas, they didn't have the air-conditioning on the day we were there. It was at least 95 outside, but comfortable inside with all the doors and windows open!
El Paso CH, 1991.
Architects: Garland & Hilles, Fischer Cordova Partners
Curiously, the only courthouse we've found so far built in the '90's! There are really cool murals inside, on the 2nd or 3rd floor.
I am a native El Pasoan, Aaron is a native Austinite, so I wanted to show him all the best and coolest parts of El Paso. So I took him to the Wyler Aerial Tramway State Park, Hueco Tanks State Park, H&H Carwash for lunch, Old Mesilla in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Chope's in La Mesa, New Mexico, downtown El Paso (The Tap, the alligator fountain by Luis Jimenez, the Tiffany dome in the Camino Real Hotel), UTEP, TransMountain Drive and the missions in El Paso. We also had dinner with family friends at Avila's, which is always my go-to Mexican restaurant in El Paso!
Marfa CH, 1886.
Architect: Alfred Giles
We went up into the cupola - very cool!
Marfa is a cool town - it's become an artist community over the years and has a lot of fun things to see and do, the most legendary of which is the Marfa Lights. The Hotel Paisano was designed by Trost & Trost, the same architects who built the Pecos courthouse and many historic buildings in El Paso. The hotel was where all the cast and crew from "Giant" stayed while they were filming in the Marfa area and is a gem of a hotel. It's absolutely GORGEOUS inside!
Ft. Davis CH, 1910.
Architect: L. L. Thurman
All 4 clocks are actually correct and they "bong" on the hour!
What a gorgeous courthouse in a cool town!
There is an old jail from 1910 across the street.
There is an AWESOME grocery store (like a mini Whole Foods!) called Stone Village Market, the Hotel Limpia is beautiful and the Davis Mountains State Park is breathtaking!
Our campsite, with javelina.
We talked a long time with park ranger Jeanine Bradley at breakfast - she told us about the fires that swept through here in the summer of 2010. We hiked the Quail Trail and the Lodge Trail. Javelinas paraded through our campsite while we were cooking dinner - Aaron's first javelinas! 11 of them total, they were totally unafraid of us. We heard coyotes howling at night and almost froze even though it was the middle of July - the Ft. Davis area is known as the coolest (temperature) 4th of July in Texas!
Alpine CH, 1887.
Architect: unknown
A VERY busy courthouse for such a small town. We saw workers putting up 4th of July decorations on the gazebo outside.
We camped at Big Bend National Park for a couple of days - did lots of hiking and ended up spending the last night in one of the stone cabins, for want of showers and comfy beds! This was after our 12 mile Southeast Rim hike. Big Bend is an AMAZING park and worth the drive.
Sanderson CH, 1930.
Architect: Henry T. Phelps
The old (razed) courthouse had an eagle sculpture on it that disappeared when the courthouse was torn down. In 1999, it was "found" and the county raised the RANSOM money and bought it back! However, there is debate whether it is the ACTUAL eagle - many think it's not because they say it's too small when compared to old photos that have the original eagle in them. However, the angle of the photo could have made it look bigger too - nothing is conclusive.
We had lunch at the Eagle's Nest Cafe - had the daily special - it was GREAT! Some locals invited us to share their table because it was so crowded we were standing and waiting - it was a fun lunch!
