DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll let it speak for itself — with just a little help from me. Now let me tell you about a man named John Joseph Emmett Gibson. Born in Dublin, Ireland, on November 4, 1849.
And already, before the boy could even form a proper memory, life handed him his first hard turn. When his family packed up and immigrated to the United States around 1851, Gibson was too sick to make the crossing. So they left him behind — with an aunt — while the rest of the family crossed an ocean and started a new life.
Sit with that a moment. A toddler, left behind in Dublin, while his people sailed away toward America. He reportedly studied architecture while he waited out those years in Dublin.
And then, when he was about sixteen, he finally made his way to St. Louis to rejoin his family. There, he likely learned the brickmaking trade from his father and brothers.
A man shaped by stone and patience, it seems, from the very beginning. From St. Louis, Gibson drifted — as ambitious men sometimes do — first toward New Orleans, then on into Texas.
In 1875 he married Elizabeth Twomey in Panola County, and the two of them settled in Center, Shelby County. He opened a brick factory there, and set up work as an architect and master mason. Now here's where the story really finds its footing.
In 1882, the Shelby County Courthouse was destroyed by fire. Two years later, the county put the job of building a new courthouse and jail out for bids. J.
J. E. Gibson's bid came in at twenty-six thousand, seven hundred and twenty-five dollars, and it was accepted.
He chose a style and decorative elements that would let him show exactly what he could do — as a brickmaker, as a mason, as a craftsman who had been building toward this moment his whole life. Construction proceeded well. Until winter came.
Gibson knew what cold does to masonry. He requested a suspension in the work schedule during the cold weather. And the county commissioners court said no.
Keep building. Gibson warned them. They didn't listen.
Then a blue norther rolled through — one of those bone-cracking Texas cold snaps that announces itself with no apology — and the extremely cold conditions caused an entire wall to crack. When the court refused to approve funds for repairs, Gibson reached into his own pocket. Two thousand, seven hundred dollars of his own money to rebuild that wall.
A wall he had warned them about. A wall that cracked because they overruled him. He petitioned the county commissioners court for reimbursement for many years.
He had support from local citizens. And he was never repaid. Not a dollar.
And yet — and yet — on February 12, 1886, the Shelby County Commissioners Court formally accepted the new courthouse. They called it, and I love this, "the Irish castle on the square." A castle built by a man from Dublin, raised by bricks he knew how to fire and lay better than anyone in that county, standing on a Texas square because one stubborn Irishman refused to let cold weather or a stingy court define his work. John Joseph Emmett Gibson died in September of 1931 and was buried eleven miles north of Center, in the city cemetery in Tenaha, Texas.
The castle he built is still on the square. The twenty-seven hundred dollars is still gone. Some debts, it turns out, only history settles.
What the marker says
(November 4, 1849 - September 14, 1931) John Joseph Emmett (J. J. E.) Gibson was born in Dublin, Ireland. Because of an illness, he was left behind with an aunt when his family immigrated to the United States about 1851. Gibson reportedly studied architecture in Dublin, and finally joined his family in St. Louis when he was about sixteen. There he likely learned the brickmaking trade from his father and brothers. Eventually drawn to New Orleans and then to Texas, Gibson married Elizabeth Twomey in Panola County in 1875. They settled in Center in Shelby County, where he opened a brick factory and worked as an architect and master mason. The Shelby County Courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1882. Two years later, J. J. E. Gibson's bid of $26,725 was accepted for design and construction of a new courthouse and jail. He chose a style and decorative elements that allowed him to demonstrate his skill as a brickmaker and mason. Construction proceeded well until winter, when Gibson requested a suspension in the work schedule during cold weather. Against Gibson's advice, the county commissioners court required that he continue pouring masonry, and during a blue norther the extremely cold conditions caused an entire wall to crack. When the court refused to approve funds for repairs, Gibson spent $2700 of his own money to rebuild the wall. He petitioned the county commissioners court for reimbursement for many years, and although he had support from local citizens, he was never repaid. The Shelby County Commissioners Court formally accepted the new courthouse, "the Irish castle on the square," on February 12, 1886. Upon his death in September 1931, Gibson was buried 11 miles north of Center in the city cemetery in Tenaha, Texas. (1999)