Shackelford County Courthouse
Albany, Shackelford County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1883-84 from plans by J. E. Flanders of Dallas, architect for several other 1880s Texas courthouses. Edgar Rye of Albany was construction superintendent. Kilted Scottish Masons erected the walls of stone quarried a few miles southwest of town. The foundations rest two feet deep on "natural concrete" (caliche). Budgeted at $27,000.00; final cost was $49,433.75. Clock tower was added at public's request. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1962
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Completed in 1883–84 to designs by Dallas architect J. E. Flanders, this courthouse rose from local stone quarried just outside town and laid up by kilted Scottish masons, its foundations sunk into the caliche hardpan. Budgeted at $27,000, it ended up costing nearly $50,000, and a clock tower was added at the public's request. It has anchored the county seat of Albany ever since.
Why it matters
A grand stone courthouse on the West Texas frontier announced permanence and order in a young ranching county still close to its raw beginnings.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. E. Flanders
- · Edgar Rye
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Shackelford County
Albany, TX
Created in 1858 on land roamed by nomadic Indian tribes, Shackelford County took its name from a physician of the Texas Revolution. Its first Anglo settlers arrived on the eve of the Civil War, sheltering during the fighting in 'family forts' until the U.S. Army built Fort Griffin in 1867. The rough town of Griffin that grew around the post drew buffalo hunters and trail drivers on the Western Cattle Trail before the railroad arrived in 1881 and, later, an oil boom transformed the county's economy.
The Rev. John Brown, Clara Barton and the 1886-1887 Drought Relief
Albany, TX
Scottish immigrant John Brown became minister of Albany Presbyterian Church in 1884, just as a prolonged drought threatened West Texas farmers and ranchers. Chosen to seek relief, he traveled east in 1886 to appeal to banks and churches for seed wheat, drawing both donations and the anger of Texas boosters who feared the publicity; he also petitioned the state legislature and won a relief law from Gov. Sul Ross. When Brown appealed to Clara Barton, the American Red Cross sent aid, and in January 1887 Barton herself toured the stricken counties and left a personal donation to spur further giving.
Dr. Jack Shackelford
Albany, TX
A Virginia-born physician who had served on Andrew Jackson's staff in the War of 1812, Jack Shackelford raised a company of Alabama volunteers—the Red Rovers—and brought his son and nephews to fight in the Texas War for Independence in 1835. Under Colonel Fannin his orders saved lives at the Battle of Coleto, but most of the captured Texans were executed in the Goliad Massacre of March 1836; Shackelford was spared for his medical skill and made to treat the wounded. His written accounts of Fannin, Coleto, and Goliad remain important sources, and in 1858 Texas named a county in his honor.
Texas Cattle Trail
Albany, TX
This marker honors the great cattle trail that drove Texas herds north to Dodge City, Kansas, and other markets between 1875 and 1890. In those years cowboys pushed longhorns across hundreds of miles of open range in the golden age of the trail drive. The route ran through this stretch of Shackelford County, part of the vast network that carried Texas beef to the railheads of the plains.