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The Bell
Tower
by Bob Bowman |
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In
the mid-1890s, as Titus County completed its fifth and present courthouse
at Mount Pleasant,
county officials hung a large bell in a tower atop the building.
As it tolled the hours and half-hours, the bell became a beloved fixture
in the town. From the bell’s sounds, people set their clocks, opened
their businesses and planned their schedules. |
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The
1895 Titus County Courthouse
Postcard circa 1909, courtesy THC |
| But in 1940,
the county removed the bell tower to add a fourth floor and in the
sixties slapped an aluminum skin on the courthouse, earning it the
title of “the
ugliest courthouse in Texas.” |
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Titus
County Courthouse after the 1940 remodeling
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ |
Although
the bell no longer rang out the hours and half-hours, it was placed
behind a glass case on the first floor of the courthouse.
But, thanks to Claude Alexander and the Titus County Historical Commission,
the bell will soon ring again across Mount Pleasant’s courthouse square.
To build a new, free-standing bell tower and an electronic operating
system to ring the bell, the Commission and others are putting together
a $60,000 pot. County officials are putting up 42% of the cost, the
City of Mount Pleasant is paying 20%, and the remaining funds are
coming largely from engraved bricks.
To understand the bell tower project and the part that brick sales
has to do with it, one must first know a little history of the Titus
County courthouse.
The
first courthouse was a log house built in 1847 on the present courthouse
square. The second courthouse was built in the early 1850’s and the
third came in the heels of the second in 1859 and lasted only eight
years.
The fourth courthouse was built after 1867, but burned just after
midnight on September 21, 1895. Local legend has it that a county
employee was trying to cover up something and did so by burning down
the whole building.
Luckily, the county had just finished a two-story fireproof vault.
The county clerk and a helper had carried an armload of records into
the vault after closing time on September 20, and all the remaining
records were to be moved into the vault the next morning.
The county’s records prior to 1895 were destroyed, but individuals
who had personal copies of deeds re-filed them with the county. |
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Titus
County Courthouse after the 1962 remodeling
Photo circa 1965, courtesy THC |
After the county’s
ill-fated experience with aluminum siding in the sixties, the metal
skin was removed in the 1990s and the building was restored to its
1940s appearance--much to the relief of everyone.
If you’re interested in buying a brick for the bell tower, get in
touch with Claude Alexander at 903-572-2897.
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