|
Red River County
Courthouse
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2006 |
The Present
Red River County Courthouse
- Clarksville, Texas
Date - 1884
Architect - Willaim H. Wilson
Style - Renaissance Revival & Second Empire
Material - Limestone
Addition - 1910 |
Historical Marker:
Red River County
Courthouse
Records date from
1836.
Fifth courthouse for county.
Built 1885.
Italian Renaissance design.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966 |
Red River County
Courthouse as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
The
Red River County Courthouse
By Bob
Bowman
"In Red River
County, one of East
Texas' oldest and northernmost counties, the courthouse at Clarksville
is undergoing a renovation deserving of its history. And as a part
of the renovation, the courthouse clock, nicknamed Old Red,
is scheduled to be rebuilt.
Built in 1885, the courthouse boasts turrets and buttresses of mellow
yellow stone cut from a quarry near Honey
Grove. Because its architecture is part Victorian, part Gothic,
and part Italian Renaissance, someone once described it as Late 19th
Century Debatable. The courthouse clock ticked from 2:30 p.m. on May
27, 1885, until it developed troubles and was electrified in 1961.
This saved the janitor of 30 minutes of hard winding once a week,
but four months later, at 4:35 a.m. on a June morning, Old Red started
striking and struck her bells 120 time before someone pulled the plug.
A town wag described it as the night that got later than it ever has
been."
(From "All Things Historical" Restoring
Two Old Reds, February 2001) |
 |
Red River County
Courthouse Clock Tower as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
Red River County
Courthouse clock tower today
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2006 |
Thou Shalt Not
Bear False Witness
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, August 2004 |
Red River County
courtroom interior
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, August 2004 |
|
|
HOME
