Quick question: In which Texas county will you find the communities of Eolian, Gunsight, Ivan, Necessity, and Reach? Did you say "Stephens County, of course"? My congratulations.
The population of Stephens peaked at about 16,500 people in 1930 and is now around 9,400. An oil boom began in 1921 and thereafter a field around Breckenridge, the county seat, was the source of 15% of all of the oil produced in the US that year. Grand schemes were hatched. Conrad Hilton got his start in the hotel business down the road in Cisco, renting rooms in eight-hour shifts to oil field workers.
Around that time, in 1926, the old courthouse was replaced by the grand new neoclassical edifice that is still in use, the great oil boom having ended in a fizzle and the population boom receding as well.
Of the series of photos I took, I probably like this one the best because of the Maxfield Parrish light in which the courthouse appears, although lacking the genteel eroticism that made his 1922 print, "Daybreak" one of the most popular 20th-century prints sold in the US, slipping nudity past the nose of the nearest Postal Inspector, amidst the trappings of High Culture.
The 1926 courthouse was designed by an Abilene architect who had the idea that he ought to memorialize the key elements of the law that would regulate proceedings within, a good many of which were most likely just foreclosures on bankrupt cotton farmers.
So what were the key ingredients as envisioned by the building's designer? The photo below provides a clue. Yes there are four such shrines on the building facade. Apparently, someone imagined that the Mosaic Law, the Code of Justininian, the Code of Hammurabi and the Book of Titus were the four pillars upon which the laws of Texas rested in 1926.
At any rate, ole Titus, Hammer Rodney, and Justin got themselves their own niches on the buidling.
Sometime in the 1960s when Abilene would have been on the target list for a Soviet nuclear strike, a fallout shelter was added to the courthouse.
And then there is the back side of the building where Titus and Hammurabi hang out which looks as if the Soviets were already there:
Have you ever seen an R-rated movie? Only the young have good-looking behinds.
Kent McMillan, post: 427434, member: 3 wrote: Eolian, Gunsight, Ivan, Necessity, and Reach
I was sure this was going to be about a law firm 🙂
And, as a footnote and word for the day, those shrine-like windows similar to that of ole Mose above are probably better known as aediculae rather than niches.
Bought this at a silent charity auction years ago in New Orleans. It is the large size format with original framing.
It in the bedroom. A friend who owned a breakfast cafe years ago offered us a nice price for it. But swmbo likes it too much. Ironically my mother in law hated it.
Strange seeing these courthouses that were built in such diverse styles and purpose.
Robert Hill, post: 427442, member: 378 wrote:
It in the bedroom. A friend who owned a breakfast cafe years ago offered us a nice price for it. But swmbo likes it too much. Ironically my mother in law hated it.Strange seeing these courthouses that were built in such diverse styles and purpose.
Nice. "Daybreak" 1922
http://www.parrish-house.com
Robert Hill, post: 427442, member: 378 wrote: Strange seeing these courthouses that were built in such diverse styles and purpose.
Texas county courthouses turn out to be as much about the people of the county and their expectations of prosperity as anything. I'd think most were financed by the sale of bonds and so building an elaborate building in a county with only 16,000 residents was in effect a bet on the future.
Note that Stephens County has skipped the Confederate statue in favor of a sort of gravestone marker for the CSA.
Another interesting feature of the Stephens County Courthouse is that a part of the older courthouse that was replaced in 1926 has been preserved on the grounds. That is uncommon to see that connection with the past maintained.
Holy Cow, post: 427436, member: 50 wrote: Have you ever seen an R-rated movie? Only the young have good-looking behinds.
If that is true I live in an R rated world 😉
