Stiles Courthouse

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Stiles Courthouse, out in Reagan County. Now, out in that part of Texas, stone doesn't travel far before it becomes something permanent. The courthouse at Stiles was built in 1911, and the rock that holds it together was quarried just half a mile away.

Half a mile. You could practically watch the building go up from the quarry itself. The whole thing came in at twenty thousand dollars, which was no small sum for a courthouse rising out of the West Texas scrub.

It stood as the seat of Reagan County business, doing what courthouses do, until 1925, when the county seat pulled up and moved to Big Lake. Just like that, the official business was gone. But here's the thing about a building made from stone that close to home.

It doesn't go quietly. For many years after the county seat departed, that old courthouse kept working. It became a community center, a gathering place, the kind of building a town leans on when it needs to remember it's still a town.

And for one year, it was a school. One year. Just long enough to leave that detail in the record forever.

Stone quarried half a mile away, twenty thousand dollars, and a building that refused to be finished with its purpose just because the government moved on.

What the marker says

Built in 1911 from stone quarried half a mile away. Cost $20,000. Used until 1925 when the county seat moved to Big Lake. For many years after, it was a community center and (for one year) a school. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1969