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The
Bell Towerby
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. |
| | 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.” |
| | 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. |
| | 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.
Mount Pleasant
Hotels
All
Things Historical November 15, 2005 Column
(Distributed by the East
Texas Historical Association. Bob Bowman of Lufkin is a past president of the
Association and the author of more than 30 books about East Texas.)
See Titus
County Courthouse
Mount
Pleasant, Texas
Mount
Pleasant Hotels | |
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