DONLEY COUNTY COURTHOUSE
County Seat - Clarendon, Texas

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If you're like me, when you hear the name Texas Panhandle, you probably think blue northers and the Palo Duro Canyon. It gets cold, cold in the Panhandle where there's hardly anything but barbed wire fence to keep out the brisk Arctic wind in the winter.

Donley County is one of the squared counties located in the Panhandle. Formerly the domain of Plains Apaches and later the Comanches and Kiowas, this region was once overrun with buffalo until White men settled in the latter 1870s. Many battles ensued between the tribes and the Whites, including the decisive Red River War of 1874-75. Thereafter, the Indians were put on reservations in Indian Territory, and the buffalo were slaughtered. With the buffalo gone, vast cattle ranches could be established.

This is about when Methodist preacher Lewis Carhart established "Saints Roost" up in those parts. Actually, Carhart called his no-liquor, no-gambling Christian colony "Clarendon" after his wife, Clara. But local rowdies gave it its nickname since they weren't allowed to be rowdy there. Carhart's motto, "Christianity, Education, Temperance, Civilization - Westward," set high expectations for the townspeople. Nevertheless, a saloon and dance hall were going to be erected by some outsiders at one point. This didn't set well with several local cowboys, who offered to scalp them if they didn't leave. It took legendary cattle driver Charles Goodnight to persuade the business owners to pack up and leave. He gave them ten hours to go, and, by golly, they were gone before that. By the early 1880s, Clarendon was one of only three towns in the Panhandle. Saints Roost is now like Atlantis, under water (the Greenbelt Reservoir, to be exact). Clarendon has been the county seat since 1882.

Incidentally, the August 2, 1879, edition of the Clarendon News, which claimed that there was to be "no whisky forever in Clarendon," made comment on the Sunday law. This so-called law extended between the hours of midnight on Saturday until midnight on Sunday, during which time no shopping or trading was allowed. It appears that a drought had laid siege on the land and that "to many old guzzlers, it seem[ed] an eternity between drinks." I guess they were guzzling lemonade since whisky wasn't allowed.*

Donley County is named for Stockton P. Donley, skilled criminal lawyer and elected Texas Supreme Court Judge. He didn't live in the Panhandle, but he's said to have been as clever an attorney as Patrick "give me liberty, or give me death" Henry. Donley County, created in 1876, was also cattle country, with the JA Ranch (established that year by Goodnight and John Adair), the RO Ranch, and Carhart's Quarter Circle Heart Ranch covering most of the area.

The Romanesque Revival stone and brick courthouse is the third temple of justice for the county. The stone base was supposedly taken from the previous courthouse, which was a two-story stone edifice. Colorado architects C. H. Bulger and Isaac Rapp had designed the current building to have a tower in the northeast corner, a conical turret roof over the stair in the southeast corner, and other decorative roof elements.

The original roof had had its share of problems. It was initially sheathed with pressed metal shingles which shed water poorly. That led to damage to the interior structure. The entire third floor and the roof were removed and replaced between 1936-37.

Stained glass windows in arched openings still remain as hints of its Victorian era roots. Columns with alternating courses of smooth and textured stones support the arches of the tower base. The building itself is very imposing, situated next to the modern courthouse annex that doesn't match it at all. A ranch house would be more fitting out in these parts, but since Clarendon was dubbed "the Athens of the Panhandle," having a fancy Romanesque courthouse would make some sense. (Wait. Wouldn't a Greek Revival courthouse make even more sense?)

One of the most famous cases to be tried here was in November 1909 when G.R. Miller was sentenced to die for murdering two young men. He was hanged from the brand new scaffold several blocks from the courthouse in what was to be the last legal hanging in the Panhandle. I guess you can say that they built the scaffold especially for him.

Donley County Forum

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