Old Jack County Courthouse Cornerstone

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're lookin' at something that's been around the block more than once, and the block it came from is long gone. This is the story of the Old Jack County Courthouse Cornerstone.

Back in 1885, the third Jack County Courthouse was razed. Just gone. But before it came down, somebody had the good sense to pull that cornerstone free.

Native limestone, quarried right there in Jacksboro, and for its day, the marker says the workmanship and the stone were of the finest quality. That's not a small claim. That's a building that meant something to the people who put it up.

The stone sat apart from its original home for a long time, but in 1966 it was mounted right here, preserved, given a new place to stand. And here's the part that gets me. That cornerstone didn't come alone.

There's a bell. Also a relic of that same third courthouse. It was part of the mechanism in the building's clock tower, and after the courthouse was gone, the Jacksboro firemen mounted that bell in a frame right here alongside the stone.

So what you've got is two survivors from the same lost building, a cornerstone and a clock tower bell, brought back together by the people who cared enough to save them. The courthouse may be gone, but it left its bones behind, and Jacksboro kept them.

What the marker says

Removed 1885 from third Jack County Courthouse when building was razed. Mounted here in 1966. Old Courthouse was of native limestone, quarried in Jacksboro. For its day, workmanship and stone of finest quality. Bell is also a relic of the third courthouse. It was part of the mechanism in the building's clock tower, and was mounted in frame here by Jacksboro firemen. (1967)