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Navarro
County Courthouse
Recorded
Texas Historic Landmark
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, July 2016 |
Present Navarro
County Courthouse -
Corsicana, Texas
Date - 1905
Architect - J. E. Flanders
Style - Beaux-arts
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark |
Navarro County
Courthouse
1939 Photo courtesy TXDoT |
Historical
Marker:
Navarro County
Courthouse
Navarro
County was created in 1846 by an act of the first Texas Legislature.
It was named for early statesman Jose Antonio Navarro (1795-1871),
a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The first county
seat was established at the home of William R. Howe, an early settler
on the Chambers Creek in present-day Ellis
County. In 1848, Corsicana was designated
the seat of government, and temporary offices were set up in the
home of pioneer Hampton McKinney.
he second temporary courthouse for Navarro
County was a log cabin located on the corner of West First Avenue
and Twelfth Street. A second courthouse, built at this site in 1853,
burned in 1855, requiring the construction of a third building.
In 1880, Austin architect
F.
E. Ruffini designed a fourth courthouse for Navarro
County. The elaborately ornate building proved too small for
the needs of the growing county, and a shifting foundation caused
the structure to be condemned in 1904.
The present courthouse was designed by architect J. E. Flanders
of Dallas. Constructed
of red Burnet granite and gray brick, it was completed in 1905.
The Beaux Arts Classical Revival structure features a clock dome
and a pedimental entryway with free-standing Ionic columns.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983
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Navarro County courthouse historical marker
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2011 |
Courthouse front entrance pediment detail
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2011 |
Restoration:
"The courthouse is undergoing an interior and exterior historical
restoration which should be completed by the end of 2015 with a rededication
ceremony to occur sometime in early 2016." - Terry
Jeanson, October 31, 2015
Rededication:
"The rededication for the Navarro County courthouse was held
on July 9, 2016" - Terry
Jeanson |
Navarro County
Courthouse Courtroom
"The colors are mostly salmon pink and green in the offices and
the courtroom."
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, July 2016 |
Navarro
County Courthouse Courtroom
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, July 2016 |
Navarro
County Courthouse Courtroom
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, July 2016 |
Navarro County
Courthouse courtroom skylight
"The courtroom was restored to its two-story height with the
stained glass skylight returned to the ceiling."
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, July 2016 |
The district
courtroom as it appeared in 2011 before restoration
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2011 |
Statue of the
county namesake, Jose Antonio Navarro, at courthouse front entrance
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2011 |
Navarro
County courthouse front, with Firemen's Monument
Photo courtesy Lori
Martin, December 2005 |
"The Call
To Arms" Statue in front of the Navarro County Courthouse
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, October, 2009 |
"Navarro
County Courthouse and Confederate Monument, Corsicana, Texas."
1912 Photo
courtesy THC |
Courthouse tower
TE Photo, June 2000 |
| The
1880 Navarro County Courthouse |
The 1880 Navarro
County Courthouse
Photo courtesy THC |
| The
1857 Navarro County Courthouse |
The 1857 Navarro
County Courthouse -
Corsicana, Texas
Architect - Thomas
J. Haynes |
The 1857 Navarro
County Courthouse
Photo courtesy THC |
| The
1853 Navarro County Courthouse |
The 1853 Navarro
County Courthouse -
Corsicana, Texas
Architect - Thomas
J. Haynes
A two-story frame courthouse replaced the cabin in 1853.
Burned in Fall 1855. |
| The
1848 Navarro County Courthouse |
The
1848 Navarro County Courthouse -
Corsicana, Texas
Red cedar and post oak log cabin.
According to Mavis Kelsey's book 'The Courthouses of Texas,' this
building is still standing. |
The 1848 Navarro
County Courthouse
Photo courtesy THC |
Historical
Marker:
Site of the
First Courthouse
The Texas Legislature
specified that the seat of Navarro
County should be called Corsicana; but the location was not secured
until 1848, when this site was donated by David R. Mitchell, James
C. Neill, and Thomas Smith. Other structures served briefly as quarters
for county business; but the fist actual courthouse was a log cabin
erected here in 1848. The 15' by 17' building had the judge's stand
in one corner and county clerk's table in another. A two-story frame
courthouse replaced the cabin in 1853.
(1976) |
"Site of the First Courthouse" historical marker ( just
west of the old wooden building below)
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2011 |
Photographer's Note:
"This wooden building sits on West 1st Avenue near Main and is
thought by some to be the county's first courthouse. During my visit
in December 2011, a member of the Navarro County Historical Commission
told me that there is no real proof to make that claim. They said
that the oak logs have been dated to 1848 and that the building is
the oldest one in the county, but it does not stand on the same lot
as the first courthouse, which is one lot to the west where the historical
marker is. The current wood building was built at the same time
as the first courthouse and constructed in the same manner, with long,
uncut logs that have large separations between them filled with mortar.
You could surmise that parts of the old courthouse were later added
to this building, but there is no proof of that either." - Terry
Jeanson |
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