Somervell County Courthouse
Glen Rose, Somervell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1893. Late Victorian style. Native limestone construction. County was organized in 1875 and named for General Alexander Somervell (1796-1854), Texas soldier, colonist, and statesman. Court was first held in an old store across road from Barnard's Mill. A log cabin (1 block w) was used later. Third courthouse (first on this site) was finished in 1882 but burned in 1893, along with many valuable records. Present structure has a fireproof vault.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1893 of native limestone in a Late Victorian style, this courthouse serves Somervell County, organized in 1875 and named for General Alexander Somervell, a Texas soldier, colonist, and statesman. Court had first convened in a store across the road from Barnard's Mill and later in a log cabin nearby. An earlier courthouse on this site, finished in 1882, burned in 1893 along with many county records — a loss the present building answered with a fireproof vault.
Why it matters
The courthouse embodies the establishment of civic order on the Texas frontier, where a young county's records and government finally found a permanent, fire-resistant home.
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Related people
- · Alexander Somervell
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Somervell County
Glen Rose, TX
This county honors Alexander Somervell, a Maryland-born veteran of San Jacinto who served as the Republic of Texas secretary of war and led the 1842 Somervell Expedition against Mexican incursions. The region, long home to the Waco and other Native peoples, saw its first Anglo settler in Charles Barnard in 1848, and raised its first cotton crop and tannery during the Civil War. Carved from the south end of Hood County in 1875, the new county made Glen Rose — founded as Barnard's Mill — its seat.
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A. P. Humphreys built this hand-hewn native stone structure in Glen Rose in 1896 as a saloon, with a lodge hall upstairs hosting dances, socials, and stage shows. In 1902 the First National Bank moved in, counting among its customers the trail-blazing cattleman Col. Charles Goodnight. The building saw a dramatic 1917 robbery in which one bandit was shot.
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