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The
1970 Walker County courthouse today.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2005 |
The
Current Walker County Courthouse
- Huntsville,
Texas Date
- 1970
Architect - Joiner, Coburn & King
Style - Modern
Material
- Brick & steel |
Walker
County courthouse historical marker
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2005 |
Historical
Marker TextThe
Five Courthouses
of Walker CountyThe
first Walker County Courthouse was available for county commissioners court meetings
in July 1848; the building was finally completed in the center of the Huntsville
public square in 1850. Because of a defective foundation, a second courthouse
had replaced it by 1853.
Repairs made in 1856 did not hold long. The design
for the third county courthouse featured a grand jury house in the southwest corner
of the grounds rather than inside the courthouse itself. Dubbed "The Little Courthouse,"
the grand jury house was completed and in use by 1861. Construction on the main
courthouse was interrupted by the Civil War; it was finished in 1869 but major
repairs were necessary within a couple of years.
On the first day of 1888
the grand jury house was again called into service after the main courthouse burned.
The commissioners court selected Eugene
T. Heiner of Houston to design
a new building. The construction contract was awarded to D. N. Darling of Palestine.
Darling set to work in late spring and erected Heiner's
vision, replete with Victorian Gothic, Renaissance revival and Italianate details.
That structure, the fourth
Walker County Courthouse, gradually welcomed back the social and religious
groups of the county. Other uses included the Walker County Fair of 1912 and a
lecture series sponsored by Texas A & M University in 1914. The interior of the
building burned in 1968. At that time, it was one of the 25 oldest courthouses
in the state of Texas.
The fifth
Walker County Courthouse, a modern brick and steel structure, was completed
in 1970. It remained in service at the dawn of the 21st century. |
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The
1888 (fourth) Walker County Courthouse, burned.
1939 photo courtesy TXDoT |
| | Historical
Marker on the 1888 Walker County courthouse cornerstone.
Photo courtesy
Terry
Jeanson, March 2005 | |
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| | Cornerstone
of the 1888 Walker County courthouse, on the grounds of the current courthouse.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, March 2005 | |
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| | A
close up of the fourth courthouse, without the trees
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
Historical
Marker TextWalker
CountyThe earliest
known inhabitants of this area were the Cenis and Bidai (Bedias) Indians. Spanish
explorers began to arrive in 1542, followed by the French in 1687. The area was
thinly populated by Spanish and Mexican settlers until the early 1830s when colonists
came from the United States. Brothers Pleasant and Ephraim Gray established a
trading post near this site about 1835 or 1836, naming it for their home in Huntsville,
Alabama.
The region was included in neighboring counties until Walker
County was created by the First Legislature of the State of Texas in 1846; it
was named for U. S. Senator Robert J. Walker, who introduced legislation for Texas'
annexation.
The state penitentiary was established at Huntsville
in 1849. Agricultural products, primarily cotton,
were shipped out by steamboat from the late 1840s. When the Civil War began, R.
J. Walker declined to support the Confederacy. The Texas Legislature renamed the
county in 1863 for Texas Ranger Samuel H. Walker. Martial law was declared in
the county for 60 days in 1871 because of Reconstruction-era racial violence.
With the arrival of the railroads
in the 1870s, depot towns flourished. Huntsville
narrowly avoided the fate of other towns bypassed by the railroads when residents
hurriedly raised funds to build a spur. Cotton
never regained its pre-Civil War stature, and lumber and livestock became important
businesses in the 20th century.
The heritage of Walker County, from Native
Americans to frontier settlers and U. S. Citizens, is one of independent spirit
and determination. | |
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