COURTING HISTORY: Courthouses bear witness to community, culture of areas they serve

 A stitched panorama shows the courthouse in Sulphur Springs, Texas. This photograph is a composite image.
A stitched panorama shows the courthouse in Sulphur Springs, Texas. This photograph is a composite image.

The Hopkins and Red River county courthouses are distinct architectural achievements bearing witness to the culture, identity and history of the areas where they proudly stand.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, courthouse squares were the places to socialize while buying and selling goods.

The construction of major highways and interstates changed social, commerce and travel patterns. However, courthouses still have devotees, from the locals who cherish and celebrate their significance to the tourists who traverse the state's byways to visit each county's crown jewel.

Two of the more ornate and easily identifiable courthouses in our region are Hopkins County Courthouse in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and Red River County Courthouse in Clarksville, Texas.

Built within a year of each other in the mid-1890s, their stories are as varied as their styles.

"It's got a story to tell. I refer to it as a woman. It's got its secrets," Beth Wisenbaker says of Hopkins County Courthouse.

Wisenbaker should know a few things about stories to tell, as she was the county's first elected female commissioner.

Leaving the post just last month after 20 years of service, she was integral in conducting research that helped the county receive a $3.7 million courthouse restoration grant. The restoration, which cost a little over $5 million, was done in the early 2000s.

Fire destroyed the previous courthouse in 1894, and the current Romanesque Revival-style courthouse was completed in 1895, after 18 months of construction, with a $75,000 price tag.

The courthouse is an iconic cornerstone, literally, because of its placement on the town square.

"If you think about it, courthouses sit on the middle of the square and have four doors, one on each side. But ours sits on the business side (on the corner) and has two doors open to the square," Wisenbaker said.

"San Antonio architect J. Riley Gordon got the bid for this courthouse and designed it with only two entrances because the street behind was not a through street. The jail was connected," Wisenbaker said. "The fact that it had two entrances was part of the uniqueness of us getting the (courthouse restoration) grant."

The entrances are on the northwest and southwest sides of the building.

At the time, Gordon had several styles of courthouses he designed, but was known as the master of the Romanseque Revival style with its myriad towers and turrets.

When the courthouse was constructed, the bricks came from a local plant, while the granite came from Burnet County and the sandstone came from Pecos County. When the courthouse was restored, the quarries were reopened so materials could come from the same, original place, Wisenbaker said.

In the late 1800s, architects traveled from community to community and showed the courthouse plans to various county leaders, Wisenbaker said.

In Hopkins County, the Romanesque cross design was chosen for the way the air moved through the design for ventilation.

"Ours has a central tower, and it is open from the basement to the base of the tower," she said.

The building has a center staircase and dormer windows. All the doors have transoms above that can open or close for air circulation.

The courthouse steps and porticoes help circulate the air underneath and cool the building in the summertime.

The structure rests on footings crisscrossing the basement and running around the edges

"The footings on these are 3 to 4 feet wide, and they are brick. The footings go on down about another 6 to 8 feet. It is the design of the building and that was Gordon's signature design. Ten of his courthouses are still operable," Wisenbaker said.

The double-helix stairwell means people can take two separate ways to the second floor by starting on different sides and passing each other as they ascend.

"We want quality, but it doesn't necessarily have to be fancy. Our floors are concrete, they were formed and poured out on the square, with the exception of the basement. It was poured in place. As you go higher up, the floors get thinner," she said.

But, the floors have taken their share of abuse over the years.

"Criminals are not very nice, and they sit there and try to dig into the concrete. The old concrete, they could do that, because it is more porous, they gouge a hole in the floor and start digging in it."

The courthouse is in Sulphur Springs-appropriately named, as natural springs run beneath the city. But it has sometimes caused the castle-like courthouse to have its share of water woes.

"Water has been in the basement. There are water issues underneath the courthouse. There are eight sump pumps in the basement. We have had water in the basement when two or three of the sump pumps are broken down," she said.

The pumps are activated when the water rises to a certain level. The pumps work in tandem to rid the building of water.

The courthouse has had quite a few high notes through its halls and archways.

"We've had old-timey gospel gospel singings, we've had string quartets. Ours is still an active courthouse. Everything we do as the county business rolls through this courthouse," she said.

Though the courthouse was constructed in another era, it's also unique because its tower does not house a clock.

"When it was being constructed, people petitioned the court and wanted a clock in the tower. The county commissioners asked why. The people said they wanted to know what time it was as they were on the square. The commissioners told them, 'If you need to know what time it is, look at the sun. We are not going to pay for it,'" Wisenbaker said.

The courthouse has always been a community centerpiece, she said.

"The courthouse has always been the center of activity. We love parades, and when you study our history, I cannot tell you how many people have stood on the balconies and waved to the people in the parade."

Just outside the courthouse, the square has been transformed into a park boasting a veterans memorial, small splash pad, bistro-type tables inlaid with chess boards, large chess pieces sitting on the ground and see-through public restrooms built with one-way mirrors so people inside can see out, but those outside cannot see in.

About an hour away, the Red River County Courthouse, built in 1894, has a lot of open and hallway space, said County Judge L.D. Williamson. Williamson served as county judge from the mid-1980s to 2000 and is midway through another four-year stint in the post.

"There is very little space. It had to be expanded because it didn't hold all the county offices in existence at that time and certainly doesn't now. We have five buildings we are housed in now," he said.

The Renaissance Revival-style courthouse, touting columns and pedestals projecting from the building corners, was built with sandstone out of a quarry in the nearby community of Honey Grove.

"It was hauled in by railroad, then loaded on wagons and pulled by mules about six or seven blocks down the street," Williamson said.

"The outside walls are sandstone all the way through, about 3 feet thick, and painted plaster. About 90 percent is wooden floors, and most of it is wood on the inside," he said.

The courthouse cost $45,000 to build at the time and about $5 million was spent remodeling it from 2001 to 2004, he said.

"It is a very, very old, pretty building. When it was built, there was no AC or heating or anything like that. Every office in the courtroom has places for stovepipes. Every office has a place where the chimney went up and out of the courthouse for wood-burning heaters," he said.

"It at first was the main courthouse building, and in 1920 or so, they built an annex next door to it. There was a walkway, but not a covered walkway. At the moment, it houses the district clerk and county attorney. At one time, it housed the county clerk and district judges," Williamson said.

"The main feature of this one is the courtroom. It's a beautiful courtroom, much like the one you would see on the movie 'To Kill A Mockingbird,'" Williamson said. "Back then, people came to trials. There was no TV or movies. It will hold about 150 or 160 people at one time. The ceilings are almost 20 foot tall on the bottom floor and 25-30 feet tall in the courtroom. We still have 11 of the original jury chairs, the witness stand, jury box and judge's bench just like it was in 1894."

In the early 1990s, an elevator was installed so the second-floor courtroom was compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Earlier modifications were made as well.

"We had no restrooms," he said, laughing about the early days. "And finally, we built some under the stairwell by the north door. We put one little restroom under each side there; one was men's and one women's. Each had one stall-one-person restrooms. We covered space in between the two buildings (courthouse and annex) so we could have two to three stalls for each. But the historical commission made us pull those back out. They were installed in the 1970s or so. We had to tear them out since they were not historical."

The restrooms were then moved to the basement.

In the early 1980s, the bell tower beams had shifted, and it was leaning north.

"For a while, the district judges would not hold court because their offices were under there and they were afraid it would fall," he said.

The commissioners decided to install steel beams to support the tower at a cost of $60,00o.

"It put the roof in such a bind there would be water coming down the stairwells, and it looked like a river. After I came in office, I said, 'We can't do that.' I asked a house-leveling guy to come down and level the bell tower," Williamson said.

The amount charged, just under $19,000, was lower than the amount that would have required the county to take bids for the project.

The house leveler traveled to Oklahoma, where he found trees to level the tower.

Many people stop to see the courthouse, he said.

"It should be a pretty good tourist draw because it is a unique building. We had to replace the bell tower because it was rotted pretty bad. We took the old one down and put on the courthouse lawn so people can look at it and put a new one up there," he said.

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