Montague County Courthouse
Montague, Montague County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Montague County was created in Dec. 1857 and organized in Aug. 1858. A log cabin and a frame store served as temporary courthouses. Fires destroyed a two-story frame building (1873) and a two-story stone courthouse (1884). In that same year, construction began on a second stone courthouse, which lasted until a 1912 storm severely damaged it. County commissioners selected Waco architect George Burnett to design the present Classical Revival style temple of Justice. A. H. Rodgers of Henrietta was the contractor. The three-story brick and stone courthouse with raised basement has staircases at all four entrances, porticos, pilasters and dentils. Completed in May 1913, it has been the center of government and activity in the county for more than a century. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2013
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Montague County, created in 1857 on the North Texas frontier, cycled through log, frame, and stone courthouses—several lost to fire and one wrecked by a 1912 storm—before commissioners hired Waco architect George Burnett to design the present Classical Revival building. Completed in 1913 by contractor A. H. Rodgers, the three-story brick and stone "temple of justice" features four staircased entrances, porticos, and dentils. It has anchored county government for more than a century.
Why it matters
County courthouses were the civic heart of settling America, and this hard-won building marks how a frontier county repeatedly rebuilt to plant permanent institutions of law and order.
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Related people
- · George Burnett
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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