Courthouses of Grayson County

Duane's take

Now, I'm drawing straight from the official marker on the courthouses of Grayson County, so let me tell it to you true. Grayson County got its start in 1846, and from the very beginning, the county had a courthouse problem. Not a small problem.

A recurring, stubborn, almost comic problem that would play out across nearly a century of Texas history. The first courthouse was a frame building, sitting out on bald prairie a few miles west of where the county seat stands today. Finished in 1847.

Cost the county exactly two hundred and thirty-two dollars. And it served for one year. One year.

Then Sherman was relocated to a new site, and the commissioners court ordered up a log cabin on the southeast corner of the square. That was courthouse number two. Now, you might think a county would settle in after that.

You would be wrong. Courthouses three and four came along in short order. A two-story frame building on the north side of the square.

Then a brick building in 1853. Neither one, the marker tells us, was in service for any substantial period of time. The county was burning through courthouses like kindling.

So in 1859, Grayson County decided enough was enough. They built a courthouse intended, and I want you to hear that word, intended, to provide the county with a large and structurally sound facility. That one fell into disuse by the early 1870s.

Five courthouses. Fewer than forty years. And then, in 1873, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad reached Sherman, and things began to change.

The railroad was a boon to the local economy. Better building materials became available. And in 1876, Grayson County finally built something worthy of the word majestic.

A two-story edifice with a tower supporting a cupola, and inside that cupola, a clock and a bell. You could hear it. You could see it.

It was the kind of courthouse that said, we are here, and we are staying. It served the county for decades. And then, in 1930, it burned.

The Depression was already grinding down on everything, and so the county waited. Six years passed before the current courthouse rose from that loss, a native Texas limestone structure, built in part with federal grants and loans. Seven courthouses in Grayson County.

Log cabins and brick and frame and limestone. Fires and relocations and grand intentions that didn't quite pan out. And through all of it, these buildings stood, however briefly, as the centers of politics and government for the people of Grayson County.

That's not a small thing. That's the whole story of a place, told in wood and brick and stone.

What the marker says

From pioneer log cabins to a native Texas limestone structure, Grayson County courthouses have taken many shapes and sizes since the county's establishment in 1846. The first courthouse, a frame building on bald prairie a few miles west of the current county seat, was completed in 1847 for a cost of $232. It served for one year, until Sherman was relocated to this site, and the commissioners court ordered the construction of a log cabin on the southeast corner of the square. Neither it, nor the third courthouse (a two-story frame building on the north side of the square), nor the 1853 brick fourth courthouse were in service for any substantial period of time. An 1859 courthouse, intended to provide the county with a large and structurally sound facility, fell into disuse by the early 1870s. Thus, by the time the Houston & Texas Central Railroad reached Sherman in 1873, Grayson County had seen five courthouses in fewer than 40 years. The coming of the railroad was a boon to the local economy, and the availability of better building materials led to the construction of the majestic 1876 courthouse - a two-story edifice with tower supporting a cupola containing a clock and a bell - which served the county until it burned in 1930. Due to the Depression, it was six years before the current limestone courthouse was built, in part with federal grants and loans. As centers of politics and government, Grayson County's seven courthouses have played a significant role in the county's history. (2001)