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Loving County
Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2005 |
Date - 1935
Architect - Evan J. Wood
Style - Modern
Material - Brick |
Loving County
Courthouse as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
Loving County
Courthouse district courtroom
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2005 |
Signing the
courthouse guest book
TE photo, September 2009 |
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Loving County Courthouse.
Don't forget to pick up some famous Mentone Brine.
TE photo
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Loving
County Courthouse detail
TE photo |
The
town so nice they incorporated twice
Mentone also has the distinction of being the only county in Texas
that was incorporated twice. It seems that they got behind in their
taxes back a long time ago and Winkler
County held the deeds to the 6 or 8 ranches until things were
put straight.
Mentone turns down government money they would get from revenue sharing
(but they're nice about it).
© John
Troesser |
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Loving County,
Texas Forum
Subject: "Innnocents"
Rare in 1950's Mentone
My parents and I moved to Mentone around
1945 and left in 1959. I started school in Mentone in 1947 at the
age of five. At that time, the population of Mentone
was around 150. My father was a pumper for Gulf Oil and we lived about
a mile from town.
One of my girlfriend's daddy was the sheriff and we spent a lot of
time playing in the courthouse. On the second floor of the courthouse
was a large room where County Commissioners met each month and where
the County Judge listened to legal cases. As kids, we decided and
acted out our roles for the day. The "Judge" sat in the big chair
behind the bench and would swear in the "accused and witnesses" (with
their hand on the bible). The "lawyer" would ask questions. After
deciding the accused's guilt (very seldom was anyone found innocent),
the judge banged the gavel and sentenced the guilty child to time
in jail. There was one small cell with 2 bunk beds. We'd all go in
there and sit and the jailer (the sheriff's wife or some other mother)
would bring in sandwiches and drinks and we'd have a picnic. Afterwards,
we could all slide down the wood bannister to the first floor and
go home.
I started 5th grade in Pecos,
TX and graduated from there in 1959 and my family moved from Mentone
to Odessa.
I have such fond memories of my life in Mentone
and Pecos.
I try to drive back out to Mentone anytime
I'm in the area. My husband called it my "childhood fix. Of course,
the house we lived in has been gone for many years but I can still
find the old dirt road and the remnants and the memories. Thank you
for [your magazine] and little piece of history from my past. - Patsy
Powell, January 18, 2007 |
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