Coryell County Courthouse

Duane's take

The way this story comes down to us is straight off the official marker for the Coryell County Courthouse, and I'm just the one bringin' it to you on the road. Now, if you've ever pulled into Gatesville and let your eyes settle on that courthouse, you already know something is going on with that building. It doesn't just sit there.

It presides. And there's a reason for that. What you're looking at is a prime example of Second Empire Victorian style, the kind of design that showed up on Texas courthouses when a county wanted the world to know it had arrived.

This one went up in 1897, the third courthouse Coryell County had ever built, and the people involved were not cutting corners. The land itself was donated by an early settler named R. G.

Grant. Just gave it. The architect brought in for the job was W.

C. Dodson, and the builder was a man named Tom Lovell. Between the two of them, they put together something that has been standing and presiding ever since.

Now here's the part that ought to slow you down a little. Those limestone and red sandstone blocks, every single one of them, were precut to the exact size out at the quarry. Not shaped on site, not adjusted and fussed with after the wagon ride.

Cut to size, loaded up, and hauled here by horse-drawn wagons. Think about the planning that required. Think about the confidence.

At each entrance, you'll find columns in Roman Corinthian style, which is already a statement. But over the east entrance, Tom Lovell left something a little more personal: a builder's mark in the shape of an owl. Just up there, carved into stone, quiet and watchful.

Has been since 1897. Up on the roof, statues representing Justice stand keeping their own kind of watch over the county below. And inside that building, over the years, noted trials have been held.

The marker doesn't name them. Doesn't have to. Sometimes the weight of a word like "noted" does all the work a story needs.

One courthouse. One owl. A whole county's worth of history cut to size and hauled in on purpose.

What the marker says

An outstanding example of Second Empire Victorian style, often seen in Texas Courthouse design. Erected in 1897 on land donated by early settler R. G. Grant. Architect for this third Coryell Courthouse was W. C. Dodson; builder,Tom Lovell. Limestone and red sandstone blocks were precut to the exact size at quarry, then hauled here by horse-drawn wagons. At each entrance are columns in Roman Corinthian style; and over the east entrance are columns in Roman Corinthian style; and over the east entrance is builder's mark of an owl. Statues on the roof represent "Justice." Noted trials have been held in this building.