Garza County Courthouse
Post, Garza County, Texas
Marker Inscription
After Garza County's creation in 1876, it was not until 1907, at the initiative of cereal producer C. W. Post, that the county was formally organized. In 1922, when the population had grown to about 4500 and the cotton industry had spurred economic growth, citizens approved the sale of bonds to finance a new courthouse. The commissioners court selected prominent regional architect Guy Carlander of Amarillo to design the courthouse, and awarded the construction bid to the Fred T. Bone Company, also of Amarillo. Built in 1923 of reinforced concrete with brick exterior and cast stone details, the Garza County courthouse is a late, but fine, example of Prairie School architecture. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2000
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Garza County was created in 1876 but not formally organized until 1907, at the urging of cereal magnate C. W. Post. As cotton fueled the region's growth, citizens funded a new courthouse in 1922, hiring Amarillo architect Guy Carlander. Completed in 1923 in reinforced concrete with brick and cast-stone detailing, it stands as a late but fine example of Prairie School design on the Texas plains.
Why it matters
The courthouse marks how railroads, cotton, and boosters like C. W. Post transformed the West Texas plains into organized, prosperous counties in the early 20th century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · C. W. Post
- · Guy Carlander
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Slaton Harvey House
Slaton, TX
Slaton was born of the railroad: the Santa Fe bought this ranchland in 1911 for a division point and, a year later, built both a depot and a Harvey House. Part of the chain founded by Scottish immigrant Fred Harvey, the Slaton house served elegant meals to travelers around a horseshoe counter, staffed by the famed 'Harvey Girls' who roomed upstairs. A commercial and social hub for thirty years, it briefly reopened to feed troops during World War II before the building lived on as a depot into the 1980s, later rescued by local preservationists.
Fluvanna Mercantile Company
Fluvanna, TX
Founded in 1915 by D. A. Jones and John A. Stavely, the Fluvanna Mercantile Company was a classic West Texas general store, its shelves of clothing, groceries, hardware, millinery and patent medicines freighted in by the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railroad. During the Depression cash gave way to barter as neighbors traded cream and eggs for "store-bought" supplies.
Lisenby-Campbell House
Spur, TX
Built in the young railroad town of Spur, this home passed in 1916 to rancher George Edward Lisenby and later to the Campbell family, proprietors of a furniture and undertaking business that survives today as Campbell Funeral Home. Its deep eaves, hipped roof, and strong horizontal lines mark it as an example of the Prairie style that spread across small-town America in the early twentieth century.
Texas Tech University Dairy Barn
Lubbock, TX
Completed in 1927 to house the cows of Texas Tech's Animal Husbandry Department, this dairy barn was deliberately designed as an Arts and Crafts bungalow to appeal to the farmers the young college served, setting it apart from the campus's Spanish Renaissance Revival architecture. Architect Wyatt Hedrick laid out a working dairy complete with milk house, milking rooms, calf stalls, and a cast-concrete silo. By 1930 the operation supplied milk, butter, and ice cream to the cafeteria, and students could offset their tuition by selling the products of cows they kept there.