DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll let it speak for itself. Now, every county in Texas has a courthouse story, but Houston County — they've had five of them. Five.
Which means four times before, somebody looked at what they had and said, not good enough, we need to start over. By early 1938, that moment had come around again. County Judge B.
F. Bradley was presiding over the commissioners court when they started laying the groundwork — literally and figuratively — for courthouse number five. They had plans to make, money to find, and a building to dream up from scratch.
And the money, as it turned out, came from the federal Public Works Administration. That's the New Deal at work, right there in the piney woods of East Texas. Now here's the detail I want you to sit with for a second.
When it came time to pick a designer, Houston County didn't go hunting far and wide. They turned to one of their own — a native son named Blum Hester. And Blum Hester delivered something worth delivering.
The building that went up in 1939, constructed by Eckert-Fair Construction Company out of Dallas, came out in the Moderne style with Art Deco features — all sharp lines and cool geometry, the architectural language of the 1930s spoken fluent and clear. That building still stands. Still a center of politics and government for the county's citizens, same as the day it opened.
Five courthouses in Houston County's history, and this one — designed by a hometown man, built with federal dollars, finished in 1939 — is the one that stuck.
What the marker says
In early 1938, the Houston County commissioners court, with County Judge B. F. Bradley presiding, began making plans for construction of the county's fifth courthouse. Built in 1939 with funds from the federal Public Works Administration, the building was designed by Houston County native Blum Hester and constructed by Eckert-Fair Construction Co. of Dallas. The Moderne style courthouse with Art Deco features is a reflection of popular architectural trends of the 1930s and remains a center of politics and government for the county's citizens. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2000