Ennis City Hall

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Now, some buildings just hold offices. They hold files, they hold meetings, they hold the particular smell of municipal carpet.

But every once in a while, a building holds a story, and the old Ennis City Hall is one of those. The marker goes back to 1915, when this Classical Revival structure went up, designed to house city offices and the Ennis police and fire departments all under one roof. One building, three functions.

Efficient. Ambitious. And elegant, too, because the man behind it didn't do anything halfway.

His name was Hix McCanless. Born in Tennessee in 1868, McCanless made his way to Ennis and became, by all accounts, the leading designer and builder in town during the first part of the twentieth century. Not just an architect, either; the man served as a surveyor and city engineer.

He wore a lot of hats, and apparently wore all of them well. When you look at what he left behind, you start to understand why the marker calls him prominent. That pedimented entrance, the kind of classical detail that says we mean business here, we built something meant to last, those brick pilasters running up the facade.

This wasn't a building thrown up in a hurry. Now step inside, and things get interesting. At one time, the interior held a large auditorium.

Folks gathered there, did whatever people do in large auditoriums: met, argued, celebrated, who knows. But here's the detail that makes you stop and think: the original jail is still in there. Still contains it, the marker says.

So somewhere in this Classical Revival landmark, behind the pedimented entrance and the elegant pilasters, there are bars. There's a cell. History has a way of keeping its teeth even when it puts on a nice coat.

Hix McCanless died in 1938, thirty years after the city hall he designed was already a fixture of Ennis. The building outlasted him. It's still standing in Ellis County, still carrying that original jail inside it, a little piece of 1915 that never quite let go.

What the marker says

Designed by prominent local architect Hix McCanless, this Classical Revival structure was built in 1915 to house city offices and the Ennis police and fire departments. A native of Tennessee, McCanless (1868-1938) was the leading designer and builder in Ennis during the first part of the 20th century, and also served as a surveyor and city engineer. The interior of the city hall building at one time held a large auditorium and still contains the original jail. Its exterior features a pedimented entrance and brick pilasters.