DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, the ground beneath the Tarrant County Criminal Courts Building has seen a thing or two. Way back in 1849, this very patch of earth was where old Camp Worth was constructed.
Let that sink in for a second — the land didn't start with courtrooms and gavels. It started with a military camp. Sometime between 1917 and 1918, a new chapter got written on that same ground.
The noted Fort Worth architectural firm of Sanguinet and Staats designed the building you'd eventually see standing there, and they weren't skimping on the vision. They pulled from two serious schools of design — Beaux Arts and Classical Revival — and wove those elements together into something that announced itself. But here's where the building gets interesting, and maybe a little heavy.
Because when it first opened its doors, that structure wasn't just a courthouse. Oh no. It originally housed a criminal courtroom, sure — but it also held a jail and gallows.
A jail hospital. Mental wards. And offices for the Sheriff, the District Attorney, and the District Clerk.
Under one roof, Tarrant County had packed together every piece of the machinery of justice — and a few of its harder consequences. Beaux Arts columns on the outside. Gallows on the inside.
That right there is Texas in a single building.
What the marker says
Built in 1917-18, this structure is located on land upon which old Camp Worth was constructed in 1849. The noted Fort Worth architectural firm of Sanguinet and Staats designed the building, incorporating elements of the Beaux Arts and Classical Revival styles. In addition to a criminal courtroom, it originally housed the jail and gallows, a jail hospital, mental wards, and offices for the Sheriff, District Attorney, and District Clerk.