Falls County Courthouse
Marlin, Falls County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Texas legislature created Falls County in 1850. The first courthouse was a log cabin, possibly located on this site. In 1855 the county seat (then Adams) was renamed Marlin, and construction was completed on what became the courthouse square. The second courthouse, built of native white cedar, burned about 1870. The third courthouse was completed by 1876 but was damaged in an 1886 storm. Houston architect Eugene Heiner drew the plans for a fourth courthouse, which was completed in 1888. It deteriorated quickly, and county officials began to seek funding for a new edifice. Work began on a fifth Falls County courthouse in 1938. A county bond issue for $130,000 was matched with a 45% Public Works Administration grant in 1938. The cornerstone was leveled by the Grand Lodge of Texas, A. F. & A. M., on July 4, 1939, and the building was completed by December. Much of the façade is Austin shellstone; Texas pink granite makes up the entry steps. The courthouse was designed in the Art Moderne style by architect Arthur E. Thomas of Dallas, and was constructed by San Antonio contractors Hill and Combs. Its symmetrical façade is dominated by a three-story central entry tower with key pattern stonework across the tower parapet. Among its unusual features are the massive shellstone entry surrounds and decorative corner pilasters. Arthur E. Thomas designed various other notable structures in Texas from the late 1930s to 1970, including other courthouses and projects for the Marlin Independent School District. The 1939 Falls County courthouse continues to serve as the center of county government. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-2000
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Falls County was created in 1850, and its seat at Marlin has seen a remarkable succession of courthouses — a log cabin, a white-cedar building that burned, and several more lost to fire and storm. The present fifth courthouse, begun in 1938 with a Public Works Administration grant, was designed in the Art Moderne style by Dallas architect Arthur E. Thomas. Faced in Austin shellstone with pink granite steps and a soaring central entry tower, it was completed in 1939.
Why it matters
Its PWA financing and streamlined Moderne design make it a Depression-era emblem of how federal relief programs reshaped small-town civic architecture across America.
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Related people
- · Arthur E. Thomas
- · Eugene Heiner
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Presbyterian Church of Marlin
Lott, TX
Presbyterian preaching reached the Falls County Courthouse in Marlin as early as 1852, from a pulpit hoisted into the rafters when idle. The church was formally organized in 1874 by the Rev. Levi Tenney and the Rev. Hilary Mosely, worshiping in borrowed quarters until its first building rose in 1893. Its present edifice, completed in 1918, hosted the city's Thanksgiving service marking the end of World War I; a young member, Motte Martin, became one of the earliest missionaries to the Congo.
Falls of the Brazos River
Marlin, TX
The falls of the Brazos, where the river once dropped about ten feet over a rocky ledge, long served Native peoples and settlers as a landmark, meeting point, and campsite. In 1834 colonizer Sterling C. Robertson founded Sarahville de Viesca here, abandoned in 1836; later came Fort Milam and the town of Bucksnort. As the only hard-bottom crossing for 200 miles and the head of steamboat navigation, the falls gave Falls County its name in 1850 before the river shifted course in 1866.
Old Settlers and Veterans Association of Falls County
Lott, TX
Organized on July 4, 1908, about 75 years after pioneers first opened the region, the Old Settlers Association of Falls County soon merged with the Willis L. Lang Camp of Confederate veterans, chartering a joint body in 1911 to honor pioneers and preserve Southern history. In 1912 it acquired a 17.9-acre reunion ground, and in 1936 relocated a historic log cabin there for pioneer memorabilia. A 1946 charter renamed it the Old Settlers and Veterans Association, opening its ranks to soldiers of later wars.
Powell-Tull Cemetery
Chilton, TX
When John Powell was buried here in 1889, his family set the land aside as a burial ground shared among a cluster of pioneer families who had settled this part of Falls County. Among those laid to rest is Thomas Marion Tull, a Confederate veteran who had served in the Arkansas legislature and as a justice of the peace before coming to Texas. Descendants still tend the site, which reads as a record of the families who put down roots here.