Last week, I spent a couple of days doing research in Bosque County, Texas in connection with yet another lawsuit. No news there, but what struck me is what a great job of preservation/adaptive reuse the folks in Bosque have done with their courthouse building from about 1886.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that the county has grown very slowly and there hadn't been the explosion of public records in the pre-digital era that has overwhelmed some other rural counties.
But even with that natural advantage, after the renovation, the present day courthouse is just about as close to walking into a 19th or early 20th century courthouse as I can recall seeing in Texas. The ambient lighting levels are relatively dim, supplemented by task lighting, the paint scheme looks either original or what the County Commissioners *SHOULD* have asked for back when the courthouse was built.
Would recommend.
Looking at the Business Info on the county's web site. Are those wages for real, $4.25/hr starting wages for most jobs some as much $5.50?
> Looking at the Business Info on the county's web site. Are those wages for real, $4.25/hr starting wages for most jobs some as much $5.50?
Well, don't get your hopes up, Leon. My guess is that all of the labor statistics are from July, 1995. It's a time warp thing. I stayed at the best motel in Meridian (which also happened to be the worst motel in Meridian) and the room rate that was $45.00 per night plus tax today was probably $27.50 plus tax in 1995.
If you look at the Labor Statistics at the top of the page, the info is based on 1995 data. The minimum wage back then was $4.50..so maybe add about a 70% increase
>
> I stayed at the best motel in Meridian (which also happened to be the worst motel in Meridian) and the room rate that was $45.00 per night plus tax today was probably $27.50 plus tax in 1995.
But ...did you get any inspiration for a Broadway musical about the Courthouse?
> Last week, I spent a couple of days doing research in Bosque County, Texas in connection with yet another lawsuit. No news there, but what struck me is what a great job of preservation/adaptive reuse the folks in Bosque have done with their courthouse building from about 1886.
>
> Of course, it doesn't hurt that the county has grown very slowly and there hadn't been the explosion of public records in the pre-digital era that has overwhelmed some other rural counties.
>
> But even with that natural advantage, after the renovation, the present day courthouse is just about as close to walking into a 19th or early 20th century courthouse as I can recall seeing in Texas. The ambient lighting levels are relatively dim, supplemented by task lighting, the paint scheme looks either original or what the County Commissioners *SHOULD* have asked for back when the courthouse was built.
>
> Would recommend.
>
> http://www.bosquecounty.us/
Not that I'm jealous or anything, but do you get those jobs all over the state? There are 268,820 sq miles in Texas, that doesn't mean you gotta survey each one. 😀
Granted there are approximately 1800 active surveyors in the state, but geez!
> Not that I'm jealous or anything, but do you get those jobs all over the state? There are 268,820 sq miles in Texas, that doesn't mean you gotta survey each one.
> Granted there are approximately 1800 active surveyors in the state, but geez!
I try really, really hard not to do any work in East Texas if it would mean traveling there, but, sure, I work just about everywhere else. These projects are usually not the run-of-the-mill routine work but are complicated research or retracement problems that most of the surveyors in Texas would not be set up to do (or would run away from as quickly as possible). It turns out to be a specialty.
Kent,
There are several coffee-table books in print about these wonderful structures. One I like is Courthouses of Texas, by Dr. Mavis P. Kelsey, Sr.
On the cover is a courthouse located pretty close to your home (by our standards).
Ran static (then cross sections) down 15 miles of the river about 12 or 13 years ago at this time of year. Think we stayed in that same motel. For two weeks- the job was bid for 5 days, based on a helicopter flight. In January...
Kent,
> There are several coffee-table books in print about these wonderful structures.
After you've seen enough Texas county courthouses, you can almost identify the architect responsible for various series of them. The one stand-out is the Hamilton County courthouse in - where else? - Hamilton. It's a Frankenstein project.
Kent is the "hired gun" of Texas surveying
> It turns out to be a specialty.
Remember Paladin (a television show from the last century) ?
Here is Kent's card:
Kent is the "hired gun" of Texas surveying
> > It turns out to be a specialty.
>
> Remember Paladin (a television show from the last century) ?
More like:
"Have retainer? Will travel."
I enjoy digging into the history of other parts of the state and following the footsteps of the 19th-century surveyors.
Possibly the Ugliest Courthouse in Texas
> There are several coffee-table books in print about these wonderful structures.
This courthouse in Hamilton County, Texas easily qualifies as the ugliest I've seen so far.
Do you recognize this courthouse?
I believe it was demolished in the early '50s. My folks were married inside this building and my sister's birth certificate was recorded there.
ps - The Hamilton County Courthouse IS kinda hard on the eyes...
Do you recognize this courthouse?
>
That is probably one of the South Texas county courthouses, judging by the palm trees. It has to be a prosperous county, so it's probably in the valley. Hidalgo County. It's sort of a scaled-down, low-budget version of the Atascosa County Courthouse in Jourdanton.
Moving out of TX
My county, Rockingham, VA, has had 5
Here's the third 1833-74
And the fourth 1874-96
And the fifth & current since 1896
So, Where's This Texas Courthouse?
This one should be easily identifiable just from the tree that appears in the foreground.
Atascosa County Courthouse
>It's sort of a scaled-down, low-budget version of the Atascosa County Courthouse in Jourdanton.
And this is what the full-size Atascosa County Courthouse looks like:
So, Where's This Texas Courthouse?
And, This one?
Here's a real plain Jane courthouse
No. It is not located in Squarebale.