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Brazos
County Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2014 |
The Present
(sixth) Brazos County Courthouse
- Bryan, Texas
Date
- 1955
Architect - Caudill, Rowlett & Scott
Style - Modern
Material - Brick, steel and marble
Photographer's Note:
"As originally designed, the large building in the center contained
the judicial offices, courtrooms and the jail while the surrounding
buildings contained the rest of the county offices. A large courtyard
used to sit behind the main judicial building. Between 1982 and 1986,
an addition was built behind the 1955 courthouse, eliminating the
former courtyard.
The interior and exterior of the 1980s addition has recently been
renovated. In 2008, the County Administration Building was constructed
two blocks south of the 1955 courthouse." - Terry
Jeanson, January, 2014 |
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"In
1841 when Navasota County (later to become Brazos
County) was created, the tiny tree was growing alongside the cabin
of Joseph Ferguson, near the Navasota River. This cabin served
as the first county courthouse since it was there that the
first court convened and where county officials were first elected.
The Ferguson cabin didn't have a floor plan amenable to such a crush
of politicians. Many went home imprinted by the belt buckles of their
political colleagues. So a new courthouse was planned for a new county
seat of government - in Boonville.
Politicians were measured and the cabin was built to accommodate their
collective girth.
The little cedar missed out on this courthouse and in juvenile
bliss added a few growth rings to its trunk back at the Ferguson cabin.
The Texas Congress in 1842 changed the county name from Navasota
to Brazos - just to make things difficult for geography teachers.
A frame courthouse was built in 1846 (also in Boonville)
and in 1854 we get back to the story of our featured tree. Since the
1846 building had been used from everything from dances to hog-scaldings,
they added a second story when they built the new one.
Enter Colonel Harvey Mitchell. The Colonel was called "The
Father of Brazos County"
by almost everyone. (Except for his children who simply called him
Daddy.) The Colonel took it upon himself to have trees and shrubs
planted around the new courthouse and went so far as to include the
little fellow from the Ferguson cabin who was still in saplinghood.
When Bryan superseded
Boonville as
county seat in 1866 the tree stayed where it was - gathering
strength for future transplanting.
1870 saw Brazos
County erecting it's fourth courthouse - on the site where
today's current (6th) courthouse stands. Colonel Mitchell had the
cedar transplanted again. After 20-some years - the fourth courthouse
started showing it's age and civil servants started disappearing from
their second story offices. It was found that they were "slipping
through the cracks" - literally.
In the early 1890s - they took bids on a new courthouse
(the 5th) and an architect named Eugene
Heiner won the commission. Heiner designed many Texas Courthouses,
although the only one extant is in Hallettsville.
In 1955, the courthouse was replaced by the current courthouse, a
forgettable building just east of downtown Bryan.
The cornerstone of the 1892
courthouse sits in the sparse shade of the Courthouse
Cedar a tree that has stood beside the 5 courthouses of Brazos
County." |
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Dedication
plaque for the 1955 courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2014 |
Dedication
plaque for the 1980s addition.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2014 |
Plaque
for the Brazos County
courthouse cedar. It reads:
This tree has stood at three Brazos County courthouses.
1841 Ferguson Springs, 1843 Boonville,
1892 Bryan.
William Scott Chapter, D.A.R.,
Bryan - 1932.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2014 |
Former
district courtroom in the 1955 courthouse.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2014 |
The
bell from the 1892 Brazos County courthouse actually predates that
courthouse by fourteen years.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2014 |
The
plaque on the bell reads: This bell is from the clock in the former
courthouse tower and was specially cast in February of 1878, by Meneely
and Kimberly. Founders, Troy, New York.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January, 2014 |
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