DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Scurry County — created in 1876, organized in 1884 — needed a seat of justice, and the people who built it didn't wait around for someone else to do the work. Eight local landholders stepped up and donated the lots right in the center of town for the courthouse square.
R. H. Allen, Fred Barnard, R.
H. Looney, C. C.
McGinnis, C. H. McGinnis, T.
N. Nunn, W. H.
Snyder, and H. A. Travekes — eight names on a deed, and a county's future on the line.
The bonds for construction weren't floated to some faraway bank. Local citizens bought them. This was a community building itself from the ground up, quite literally.
The original courthouse went up in 1886 — two stories, red brick, and that brick was made right there locally. They set it in the northeast corner of the square, on the site of a former buffalo trail. Think on that for just a moment.
Where the herds once moved, now a courthouse stood. A jail was built farther northeast, joined to the courthouse by a corridor, so justice and its consequences were never too far apart. Board sidewalks led visitors to the building.
A chain hitching rail for horses enclosed the square. And out in the center of it all stood the public windmill — the focus, the marker says, for civic and social gatherings. People came for water, stayed for news, and built a county in the in-between.
The commissioners court looked at the four lanes approaching that courthouse — north, east, south, and west — and used them to draw the boundaries of the four county precincts. Those same precinct boundaries, friends, are still in use today. That courthouse stood until 1911, when it was razed — but only after its replacement had already risen, erected between 1909 and 1911.
The new building came with a dome, which rode tall over Scurry County until 1950, when a remodeling took it down. And the square itself? Part of it is paved now.
Courthouse visitors these days need auto space. Not a watering trough. Not a hitching rail.
The windmill's social hour is long past. But those precinct lines — drawn by lanes that led to a red-brick courthouse on a buffalo trail — those are still holding.
What the marker says
Seat of justice for Scurry County, created 1876 and organized 1884. Local landholders--R. H. Allen, Fred Barnard, R. H. Looney, C. C. McGinnis, C. H. McGinnis, T. N. Nunn, W. H. Snyder and H. A. Travekes--donated lots in center of town for the courthouse square. Bonds for construction were purchased by local citizens. The original 2-story courthouse of locally made red brick was built in 1886 in northeast corner of the square, on site of a former buffalo trail. A jail, built farther northeast, was joined to courthouse by a corridor. Board sidewalks led to the building. A chain hitching rail for horses enclosed the square. The public windmill, focus for civic and social gatherings, was located in the center of the square. The commissioners court designated the boundaries of the four county precincts according to the north, east, south, and west lanes approaching the courthouse and these precinct boundaries are still used. The first courthouse was razed in 1911, after the present one was erected, 1909-11. This building had a dome, which was removed in 1950 remodeling. A part of the old square is now paved, as today's courthouse visitors require auto space rather than the watering trough and hitching rail. (1967)