DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna let it breathe a little. Foard County came into being in 1891, and like a lot of young Texas counties, it needed a place to do its business: a courthouse to anchor the whole operation. They built one.
It did the job. But counties have a way of growin' faster than their buildings, and by 1909, that first courthouse was simply busting at the seams. So the voters did what voters do when something needs to get done right; they passed a bond election, put the money on the table, and said: build us something worthy.
The Commissioners Court got to work picking their team. They tapped Elmer G. Withers as architect, R.
H. Stuckey as superintendent, and brought in G. W.
Brillhart of Abilene as contractor. Now when that crew finished their work in 1910, Foard County had itself something to be proud of. This was a Classical Revival courthouse, the kind of building that makes you straighten up just looking at it.
Paired Corinthian columns flanking prominent porticoes on each side, and up on top of a domed cupola, a statue of Lady Justice herself, keeping watch over the county seat. For decades, there she stood. Then 1942 comes along, and a tornado (because Texas) took those features right off.
Lady Justice, the cupola, the porticoes with all those fine columns, gone with the storm. But the courthouse? The courthouse held.
It was repaired, and it still stands today, carrying the basic configuration of its original 1910 design. Some things in Texas bend. Some things don't.
What the marker says
This is the second courthouse to serve Foard County since its creation in 1891. By 1909, the first courthouse proved too small for the needs of the county, and voters passed a bond election for the purpose of building a new one. The Commissioners Court selected Elmer G. Withers as architect, R. H. Stuckey as superintendent, and G. W. Brillhart of Abilene as contractor. Completed in 1910, the Classical Revival courthouse featured a statue of Lady Justice atop a domed cupola and prominent porticoes with paired Corinthian columns on each side. Tornado damage in 1942 resulted in the loss of these features, but the courthouse was repaired and still retains the basic configuration of its original design. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2001