King County Courthouse

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm following the official record on this one, so here's the story the marker gives us about the King County Courthouse. Now, King County was created in 1876, but it took a while to get its act together; the county didn't organize until 1891. And once it did, folks got to work putting up a proper house of justice.

That first courthouse was a two-story frame structure. Looked fine, I'm sure. Served its purpose.

But in 1905, a tornado came through and settled the matter. Gone. Just like that.

So the county tried again. This time, they built in sandstone, something with a little more permanence to it. More weight.

More gravity. You'd think stone would hold its own against whatever the world threw at it. You would think that.

But in 1914, that sandstone courthouse burned. Two courthouses. Two fates.

Tornado. Fire. King County was not exactly getting the better end of the deal.

But here's where the story turns. That same year, 1914, the county hired a Fort Worth architect named Ernest E. Churchill to design a new courts building.

No frame this time. No sandstone. They went with concrete.

Two stories, solid, and built to last. And last it did; all the way to 1982, when the county converted it to a library and built itself a new courthouse. What Churchill delivered wasn't just functional, either.

The building is Classical Revival in style, with Prairie-style influences woven in, a structure that carried both ambition and elegance out into that wide open West Texas country. And it's still standing. Still there.

A testament, the marker says, to the aspirations of the early twentieth-century residents of King County. Two courthouses lost to wind and flame, and then finally, finally, one that endured. Sometimes the third time really is the one that holds.

What the marker says

Created in 1876, King County organized in 1891. Its first courthouse, a two-story frame structure, was destroyed in 1905 by a tornado. The next house of justice, built of sandstone, burned in 1914. That same year, the county hired Fort Worth architect Ernest E. Churchill to design a new courts building. The two-story concrete structure served as the courthouse until 1982, when the county converted it to a library and built a new courthouse. The Classical Revival edifice exhibits Prairie-style influences. Today, it remains a testament to the aspirations of early 20th-century King County residents. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962