Cade Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, this is a story about what happens when a county decides it's not going to sit around waiting for better days. Newton County, deep in East Texas, found itself in 1940 with a problem that needed solving, two problems really.

Jobs were scarce, and county services were a long ride away for folks out in this part of the county. So the officials got to thinkin'. They struck a deal with the U.S.

Work Projects Administration, the WPA. Newton County would put up the materials, and the WPA would put up the funds to pay the laborers. Simple as that, and yet, when you look at what came out of it, not simple at all.

Between 1940 and 1941, those laborers built something worth looking at. The Cade Building and its rock wall, constructed from hand-shaped native sandstone and lumber milled right up the road in nearby Wiergate. Hand-shaped.

Every stone fitted by hand. Now the building got its name from a woman named Harriet Trotti Cade, who donated the land that made the whole project possible. No land, no building.

No Cade, no Cade Building. It went on to serve as a sub-courthouse and a Town Hall, bringing county services closer to the people who needed them. Jobs were made.

Stone was shaped. A community was served. And a woman's generosity got set in the name of the place forever.

What the marker says

To create jobs and bring county services nearer to residents of this area, Newton County officials provided materials and the U.S. Work Projects Administration (WPA) the funds to pay laborers to construct this building in 1940-41. Named for Harriet Trotti Cade who donated land for the project, it served as a sub-courthouse and Town Hall. The Cade building and rock wall were built with hand-shaped native sandstone and lumber milled in nearby Wiergate. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1993