Honey Grove City Hall

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Back in 1885, ten years after the town of Honey Grove was incorporated, Mayor J. P.

Gilmer walked into a City Council meeting and said, more or less, gentlemen, we need a city hall and a jail. Simple enough request. Except nothing about this building came simple.

What followed was four years of deliberation, disagreement, and at least one moment where the whole thing nearly fell apart before a single stone was laid. The minutes of those City Council meetings, running from 1885 all the way through 1889, are packed with the back-and-forth: which lot to pick, how to pay for it, who gets to build it, and what it ought to be made of. Now, in 1886, the City Hall and Jail Committee went out and secured a piece of property.

Seemed like a reasonable choice at the time. But as Honey Grove kept growing, somebody looked at that lot and said, this isn't going to be enough. So in 1888, they went and selected this very site instead.

Then came the money question. The Fannin County Commissioners Court stepped up and offered five hundred dollars in financial aid, which sounded generous. Until they attached a condition: a twenty-five percent interest in the building.

The City Council looked at that offer, thought it over, and voted to reject it. Honey Grove would own its city hall outright, thank you very much. In October of 1888, the construction contract was awarded to W.

N. Allen. The stone for the building was secured from the Floyd Quarry, an early Honey Grove industry, which means this building is, in a very real sense, made of the ground it stands on.

Then bad weather moved in and delayed everything, pushing completion all the way to October 1889. Four years after Mayor Gilmer first raised his hand and said we need this. Today it holds the distinction of being Fannin County's only original civic building still standing.

Every other one is gone. This one stayed.

What the marker says

In 1885, ten years after the town of Honey Grove was incorporated, Mayor J. P. Gilmer brought to the attention of the City Council the need for a city hall and jail building. This structure was completed four years later. It is Fannin County's only original civic building that is still standing. The minutes of the City Council meetings during the years 1885-1889 are full of the deliberations concerning the construction of the city hall, including the matters of lot selection, financing, selection of a builder, and selection of material. A piece of property secured by the City Hall and Jail Committee in 1886 later was thought to be too small to serve Honey Grove's future needs, and this site was selected in 1888. The Fannin County Commissioners Court offered $500 in financial aid, but when the commissioners requested a 25% interest in the building, the City Council voted to reject their offer. W. N. Allen was awarded the construction contract in October 1888. Stone for the building was secured from the Floyd Quarry, an early Honey Grove industry. Bad weather delayed the completion of the new city hall and jail until October 1889. It has since continued to serve as the seat of government in Honey Grove.