DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Garza County has a courthouse story that takes a good long while to get going, and then when it does, it really does. The county itself was created in 1876.
Now, you might figure things picked right up from there. You would be wrong. It sat, officially unorganized, for thirty-one years.
Not until 1907, and not without a push, did Garza County get formally organized. And the man doing the pushing was C. W.
Post, a cereal producer. Yes, a cereal producer. The marker says what it says.
By 1922, the county had found its footing. The population had grown to around four thousand five hundred people, and the cotton industry had done its part to spur economic growth. Citizens looked around, liked what they saw, and approved the sale of bonds to finance a new courthouse.
The commissioners court went shopping for talent and landed on Guy Carlander, a prominent regional architect out of Amarillo. The construction bid went to the Fred T. Bone Company, also out of Amarillo.
In 1923, they built it: reinforced concrete, brick exterior, cast stone details. The style is Prairie School architecture, and the marker calls it a late but fine example of that tradition. Late to organize, late to build, but when Garza County finally got around to it, they got it right.
What the marker says
After Garza County's creation in 1876, it was not until 1907, at the initiative of cereal producer C. W. Post, that the county was formally organized. In 1922, when the population had grown to about 4500 and the cotton industry had spurred economic growth, citizens approved the sale of bonds to finance a new courthouse. The commissioners court selected prominent regional architect Guy Carlander of Amarillo to design the courthouse, and awarded the construction bid to the Fred T. Bone Company, also of Amarillo. Built in 1923 of reinforced concrete with brick exterior and cast stone details, the Garza County courthouse is a late, but fine, example of Prairie School architecture. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2000