DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's got the story, and here's how I tell it. Now, Montague County courthouse has been standing proud for over a century, but getting there — well, that took some doing. Some serious doing.
Montague County was created back in December of 1857, organized the following August of 1858, and right from the start, the county made do with what it had. A log cabin. A frame store.
These were the temples of justice in those early days, and you have to admire the ambition of holding court in a log cabin, even if the ambition was mostly just survival. Then came a two-story frame building — a real courthouse — and then fire took it, 1873. Gone.
So they built again, this time in stone. Two stories, proper and solid. And fire took that one too, in 1884.
Now at that point, a lesser county might've taken the hint. But Montague County, they started construction on another stone courthouse that very same year, 1884. That one stood through the decades, right up until a 1912 storm came through and severely damaged it.
Four courthouses. Fire, fire, storm. You almost start to wonder if the county seat was built on particularly ornery ground.
But here's where the story turns. County commissioners brought in George Burnett, an architect out of Waco, and they told him to design something that would last. What Burnett gave them was a Classical Revival style temple of justice — and that's not my phrase, that's what the marker calls it, and it fits.
Three stories of brick and stone, raised basement, staircases at all four entrances, porticos, pilasters, dentils. A. H.
Rodgers of Henrietta was the contractor who put it all together. Completed in May of 1913, this courthouse has been the center of government and activity in Montague County for more than a century now. After log cabins, frame stores, two fires, and a storm — they finally built one that stayed.
What the marker says
Montague County was created in Dec. 1857 and organized in Aug. 1858. A log cabin and a frame store served as temporary courthouses. Fires destroyed a two-story frame building (1873) and a two-story stone courthouse (1884). In that same year, construction began on a second stone courthouse, which lasted until a 1912 storm severely damaged it. County commissioners selected Waco architect George Burnett to design the present Classical Revival style temple of Justice. A. H. Rodgers of Henrietta was the contractor. The three-story brick and stone courthouse with raised basement has staircases at all four entrances, porticos, pilasters and dentils. Completed in May 1913, it has been the center of government and activity in the county for more than a century. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2013