Jones County Courthouse
Anson, Jones County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Seventh Texas Legislature created Jones County in 1858 and named it for Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas. The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the area's untamed wilderness combined to postpone the county's formal organization until 1881. Voters selected Jones City, later renamed Anson, as permanent county seat. The first permanent courthouse was a small frame building, which served until the county purchased a hotel in 1884 for use as a courthouse. An 1886 brick courthouse served the county for the next 24 years. In late 1909, the Jones County commissioners court, led by County Judge J. R. Stinson, determined that the growth of the county called for a larger courthouse. They selected Elmer G. Withers of Stamford (15 mi. N) and the Texas Building Company of Fort Worth as architect and contractor, respectively. Completed in 1910, the Jones County courthouse is an excellent example of Beaux Arts styling, with influences from the Arts and Crafts movement found in the decorative painting uncovered during a 1990s rehabilitation on the ceiling of the district courtroom. Other notable features include the statue of Lady Justice atop the domed clock tower and the pedimented porticoes with flanking pairs of Ionic columns on each façade. Constructed of brick and Pecos red sandstone, the Jones County courthouse continues to stand as an important part of Anson's architectural heritage and a center of politics and government for the citizens of the county. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2000
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Named for Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, Jones County was created in 1858 but not fully organized until 1881—its founding delayed by the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the raw West Texas frontier. After a succession of modest courthouses, the county built its grand Beaux Arts landmark in 1910, crowned by a statue of Lady Justice atop a domed clock tower. Decorative painting later uncovered in the district courtroom reveals Arts and Crafts touches beneath the classical grandeur.
Why it matters
The courthouse marks the moment a frontier county came fully of age, projecting permanence and civic ambition in the architecture of the early twentieth century.
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Related people
- · Anson Jones
- · J. R. Stinson
- · Elmer G. Withers
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jones County
Anson, TX
This corner of west Texas was crossed by an emigrant trail and a frontier military road guarded by Fort Phantom Hill, founded in 1851. The county was named for Anson Jones, a San Jacinto veteran and the last president of the Republic of Texas. Phantom Hill served as a Butterfield Overland Mail station in 1858-61 and then as a Civil War patrol point trying to curb frontier raids, before the county was fully organized in 1881 with Anson as its seat.
First Presbyterian Church Building
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The First Presbyterian Church of Anson was organized in 1882 by the Rev. Donald Frazier and nine charter members. This simple, vernacular sanctuary — the congregation's third — was built in 1929 with modest brick detailing and stained glass. When membership dwindled in the 1970s the congregation dissolved in 1984, and the building was given to the city of Anson to serve as a community museum.
First United Methodist Church of Anson
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This West Texas congregation was gathered in 1882 by a Methodist circuit rider, one of the saddle-worn preachers who carried the faith across the frontier. In 1908 a local builder raised the Romanesque Revival sanctuary that still anchors the town, its bell tower later trimmed down against the prairie winds. For more than a century the church has grown right alongside Anson itself.
Cowboys' Christmas Ball
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