Wheeler County Courthouse

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Wheeler County Courthouse, and friend, this one's got more layers than a good brisket. Now, Wheeler County takes its name from Royal T. Wheeler, an early Texas jurist.

The Texas State Legislature created the county in 1876, and by 1879 it was organized and ready for business. Back then, the only town in the whole county was Mobeetie, known at the time as Sweetwater, and Mobeetie stepped right into the role of county seat. They didn't waste any time putting up something respectable.

In 1880 they raised a stone courthouse, built from materials quarried right there in the local ground. Solid, sensible, Texan. But nothing lasts forever in a growing land, and by 1888 that stone building was replaced with a wood frame structure.

A whole new courthouse, just eight years after the first one. Now here's where it gets interesting. The area kept growing, and its center shifted.

The town of Wheeler was officially designated the county seat in 1908, and that wooden courthouse was picked up and moved to this very site. But courthouses, like boots, can be outgrown. By 1913 the building was too small to handle the county's needs.

So what do you do when you're out of room? You build more room. A separate building went up that year on the southwest corner of the courthouse square, just to house the county clerk's office.

That building got enlarged in 1923. They were making do, patching and stretching, the way folks out here have always done. But a county can only patch so long before it decides to do something right.

A bond election in 1925 set aside funds for a proper new courthouse. And that old 1888 wooden courthouse, the one that had already been moved once, the one that had served through all those years of growing pains, was sold to Sheriff Riley Price. The sheriff dismantled it himself and used the lumber to build barns on his ranch east of town.

There's a certain poetry in that. A courthouse becoming a barn. Government becoming shelter for livestock.

Texas tends to find a use for everything. The new courthouse was designed by E. H.

Eads of Shamrock, and built by local contractors Hughes and Campbell. They gave it Palladian windows and Corinthian columns, the full Classical Revival treatment, exactly the favored style for American public buildings of its time. Stately.

Confident. Built to say: this county is here to stay. Gas heat and a water system went in the very next year, 1926.

The 1913 county clerk's building was torn down in 1929. Curbs and sidewalks were in place after the summer of 1930. The streets on all four sides of the courthouse were paved in 1944, and the surrounding streets followed in the late 1970s.

From a stone building in 1880, to a wood frame in 1888, to a moved courthouse growing too small, to a Classical Revival landmark rising in 1925, Wheeler County kept building toward something. And that courthouse, with its Palladian windows catching the Panhandle light, is still standing on the town square, still serving as the center of local government. Some things, when you build them right, just keep working.

What the marker says

Named for Royal T. Wheeler, an early Texas jurist, Wheeler County was created by the Texas State Legislature in 1876. In 1879 the county was organized and Mobeetie (then known as Sweetwater), the only town in the county, became the county seat. A stone courthouse was erected from locally quarried materials in 1880. That structure was replaced with a wood frame building in 1888. As the area grew and its center changed, the town of Wheeler was officially designated the county seat in 1908. The wooden courthouse was moved to this site, but by 1913 it was too small to serve the county's needs. A separate building was erected on the southwest corner of the courthouse square that year to house the county clerk's office; it was enlarged in 1923. A bond election held in 1925 set aside funds for a new courthouse. The 1888 courthouse was sold to Sheriff Riley Price, who dismantled it and used the lumber to build barns on his ranch east of town. Designed by E. H. Eads of Shamrock, the edifice was built by local contractors Hughes and Campbell. Featuring Palladian windows and Corinthian columns characteristic of the Classical Revival style, the 1925 Wheeler County Courthouse typifies the favored style of American public buildings of its time. The 1913 county clerk's office was torn down in 1929; curbs and sidewalks were in place after the summer of 1930. Gas heat and a water system were installed in 1926. The streets on all four sides of the courthouse were paved in 1944 and the surrounding streets in the late 1970s. Standing prominently on the town square, the historic Wheeler County Courthouse continues to serve as the center of local government. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-2000