Crosby County Courthouse
Crosbyton, Crosby County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Two years after Crosby County voters chose the new town of Crosbyton as their county seat in 1910, the courts finally resolved the subsequent election disputes, and the Crosby County commissioners set about the business of constructing a new courthouse. Fort Worth architect M. L. Waller designed this building in the Neo-Classical style, featuring a full-height entry with triangular pediment supported by columns. Contractor S. Goodrum of Sweetwater completed the courthouse in late 1914, and it has served as the center of politics and government in Crosby County since that time. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2000
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After Crosby County voters chose the new town of Crosbyton as their seat in 1910, disputed elections tied up the decision in court until 1912, clearing the way for a proper courthouse. Fort Worth architect M. L. Waller designed the Neo-Classical building—its full-height entry crowned by a pedimented, columned portico—and contractor S. Goodrum completed it in late 1914. It has served as the seat of Crosby County government ever since and is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Why it matters
The county courthouse was the civic heart of settling West Texas, its dignified architecture announcing permanent government on land only recently frontier.
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Related people
- · M. L. Waller
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Crosby County Courthouses
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Crosby County's seat wandered across the South Plains before settling down. It began in 1879 at Estacado, a Quaker colony where county offices worked out of dugouts, shacks, and wagons until the first courthouse rose in 1888. The seat jumped to Emma in 1890, then to Crosbyton after the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad bypassed Emma in 1910 — and the present courthouse followed in 1914.
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This site first held the Crosbyton Inn, a two-story frame hotel built in 1908 by the C.B. Livestock Company to lure land buyers and promote the region for cotton farming. A magnet for travelers on the South Plains, it was rebuilt over its original basement after an early fire and finally razed in the 1920s. In 1926 a brick office and apartment block rose in its place, later bought and renamed for W. P. Lamar in 1944.
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Crosby County
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