Castro County Courthouses
Dimmitt, Castro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This site was set aside as the Dimmitt town square in 1891, the year Castro County was formally organized. Temporary court facilities were set up in J. N. Morrison's office while the first courthouse was built. An ornate two-story structure, it burned in 1906 after being hit by lighting. A brick courthouse with a central dome, built in 1908, was dedicated at a community picnic. It served until the 1930s, but was razed to make room for the present stone building. Built with Works Progress Administration labor, Castro County's third courthouse opened in 1939. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Castro County was organized in 1891, the town of Dimmitt set aside this square and held court in a private office until its first courthouse rose. That ornate wooden building burned after a lightning strike in 1906, a domed brick successor served into the 1930s, and the present stone courthouse was raised in 1939 with Works Progress Administration labor.
Why it matters
The succession of courthouses on one square traces how frontier counties matured into settled communities, and the WPA-built third courthouse ties this small Panhandle town to the nationwide New Deal public-works effort.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The Texas Panhandle was among the last parts of the state to be organized into working counties. After the region's Native peoples were forced out in the 1870s, ranching came first, with vast open ranges and large cattle operations. Many Panhandle counties existed on paper for years before they had enough residents to organize a government.
Castro County formally organized in 1891, and at that moment Dimmitt set aside this site as its town square. That choice mattered. On the plains, the county seat drew trade, lawyers, newspapers and settlers, and the courthouse square was the physical and symbolic heart of a new community.
The square's later chapters reflect national history as well. The third courthouse went up during the Great Depression with Works Progress Administration labor. The WPA was the New Deal program that put millions of unemployed Americans to work building roads, schools, parks and public buildings across the country.
People & events
When the county organized, it did not yet have a courthouse. Court business was handled temporarily in the office of J. N. Morrison while the first courthouse was being built. Borrowing a private office for public business was typical of frontier county government: practical and improvised, but enough to get the work started.
The first courthouse was an ornate two-story building, a sign of the young county's ambitions. Its story ended abruptly in 1906, when lightning struck it and it burned. On the open plains, with few tall structures and little protection, that kind of loss was a real danger.
The county rebuilt in brick. Its second courthouse, crowned with a central dome, was finished in 1908 and dedicated at a community picnic. The picnic is a telling detail: the building belonged to everyone, and its opening was a town celebration. That courthouse served until the 1930s. It was then torn down to make way for the present stone building, raised by WPA workers and opened in 1939. Three courthouses on one square, and each one marks a stage in the county's growth.
Its place in the American story
The American county courthouse is one of the country's most recognizable civic institutions. Across the rural South and West, the courthouse square anchored the town around it. Deeds were recorded, disputes were settled, and elections, celebrations and markets often took place there. Following one square's buildings over time is a way to follow a community's development.
Castro County's three courthouses show the pattern clearly: improvised beginnings, an ambitious first building, rebuilding after disaster, and finally a durable modern structure. Many frontier counties went through some version of that cycle.
The 1939 courthouse also connects tiny Dimmitt to one of the largest public-works efforts in American history. The WPA left buildings in communities across the nation, and many of them, like this one, are still in use. In 1986, during the Texas Sesquicentennial, the state honored this square's story with a marker.
If you visit
Start with the courthouse itself. Look at the stone construction and the style of the building, and remember that it was built by Depression-era workers who were glad of the job. WPA buildings often have a solid, dignified simplicity that rewards a closer look.
Then picture the earlier buildings that stood on this same ground: an ornate wooden structure destroyed by lightning, and a domed brick courthouse dedicated with a picnic. The square has been the center of town for well over a century.
Dimmitt makes a pleasant stop on a Panhandle road trip through farm and ranch country. Courthouse squares are among the best places to get a feel for a small Texas town, so take a walk around the square and see what has grown up around it.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Shoot-out on Jones Street
Dimmitt, TX
The choice of a county seat was serious business on the Texas Panhandle frontier, serious enough to draw blood. At an 1891 meeting, heated words passed between Ira Aten, a retired Texas Ranger backing rival Castro City, and Andrew McClelland, spokesman for Dimmitt. Days after Dimmitt won the vote, the two shot it out in the middle of Jones Street; Aten wounded both McClelland and his brother, was acquitted, and was soon appointed county sheriff.
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Tennessee native and local merchant Jeff T. Gilbreath brought his family to the newly settled Castro County in 1905 and built this house in 1909, soon selling it to county attorney Mark Cowsert. A fine example of early 20th-century vernacular architecture with its bay window and hipped, gabled roof, the house was preserved when the Castro County Museum acquired it in 1976.
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Carved from earlier territories and formally organized in 1891, Castro County honors Henri Castro (1786–1861), a French-born empresario who colonized the Texas Hill Country. Castro founded Castroville, Quihi, Vandenburg, and D'Hanis in Medina County, recruiting European settlers — many Alsatian — to a raw frontier. Dimmitt serves as the county seat on the High Plains far to the north of the towns that bear his mark.
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