Navarro County Courthouses, Corsicana Texas, history, restoration, markers, statues & monuments, photos, travel. (original) (raw)
Navarro County Courthouse
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, July 2016
Present Navarro County Courthouse -
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
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" -
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 -
Architect - Thomas J. Haynes
The 1857 Navarro County Courthouse
Photo courtesy THC
The 1853 Navarro County Courthouse
The 1853 Navarro County Courthouse -
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