DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Fannin County Courthouses. Now, before Fannin County was even officially organized, somebody had to get the business of government started — and they did it the only way you could in that country at that time. The Commissioners Court first met at Jacob Black's cabin on February 26, 1836.
No grand hall of justice. No marble columns. Just a cabin, and the will to govern.
In 1838, a town called Warren — sitting near what is present-day Ambrose in Grayson County — was named the county seat. And by 1840, they had themselves a proper courthouse. Well, proper by the standards of the day: a two-story structure of oak and cedar, with rough plank floors.
You can almost hear the boots on those planks. But Warren wasn't the end of the road. In 1843, the county seat moved to a place called Bois d'Arc.
Then the very next year, that town's name was changed to Bonham — named, as the marker tells it, for an Alamo hero. And the courthouse that greeted Bonham in 1843 was a small log structure, built on land donated by Judge John P. Simpson.
Later, another cabin was added, the two joined by a breezeway. Rustic, yes — but here's the detail that stays with you. If you were a juror in that early courthouse, you sat up in a loft above the courtroom.
And the only way to reach that loft was by an outside ladder. You had to climb outside the building, up a ladder, and then sit in judgment. Justice, earned one rung at a time.
That log building served Fannin County until 1881, when a two-story brick structure went up on the same spot. But even that didn't last long. In 1888, it was replaced by a three-story courthouse built of native stone — quarried from Gober, south of Bonham — and the hands that shaped it belonged to Scottish-born stonemasons named Kane and Cormack.
There's something fitting about stone from the local earth, cut by men who crossed an ocean to build something meant to last. And it nearly did last, all the way through. But in 1929, fire destroyed the clock steeple, and the building was remodeled.
Then, using part of that 1888 structure as its bones, a new courthouse took shape in 1965 and 1966, faced with Leuders stone. When it was finished, Governor John Connally came to Bonham and dedicated it. From Jacob Black's cabin in 1836 to a Governor's dedication — that's not just the story of a building.
That's the story of a county finding itself, one courthouse at a time.
What the marker says
Commissioners Court first met at Jacob Black's cabin on Feb. 26, 1836, before Fannin County was officially organized. In 1838 Warren (near present Ambrose in Grayson County) was named the county seat. The courthouse built there in 1840 was a two-story oak and cedar structure with rough plank floors. In 1843 the county seat was moved to Bois d'Arc; town's name was changed to Bonham, for an Alamo hero, the next year. Judge John P. Simpson donated land for the small log courthouse of 1843. Later another cabin was built with a breezeway connecting the two. In the early courthouse jurors sat above the courtroom in a loft that could be reached only by an outside ladder. This log building served until 1881 when a two-story brick structure was erected at the same location. This was replaced in 1888 by a 3-story courthouse made of native stone from Gober, south of Bonham, and built by Scottish-born stonemasons Kane and Cormack. Fire in 1929 destroyed the clock steeple, and the building was remodeled. Using part of the 1888 structure, this courthouse was constructed in 1965-66 with a facade of Leuders stone. It was dedicated by Governor John Connally.