The Courthouses of Gregg County
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Gregg County was formed in 1873 and Longview was chosen as county seat. The first temporary courthouse was a small building at the corner of Fredonia and Tyler streets. It soon proved inadequate, however, and another temporary courthouse was set up on the second floor of the 2-story W. G. Northcutt Hardware Store. The only brick building in town, the Northcutt Store was also the only structure to survive a devastating downtown fire in 1877. The county built a jail in 1874, and levied a special tax to finance construction of a permanent courthouse. Designed by F. E. Ruffini and completed in 1879, the French Second Empire style building featured a mansard roof and a central clock tower. Structural problems were soon evident, however, and by 1896 the building was condemned and demolished. A new red brick Romanesque Revival courthouse, designed by Fort Worth architect Marshall R. Sanguinet, was completed on the square in 1897. The East Texas oil boom of the 1930s resulted in overwhelming business at the courthouse, and by 1932 the county had replaced the red brick courthouse with a modern Art Deco building. Enlarged over the years with several additions, it still serves the county. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Since its formation in 1873, Gregg County has housed its government in a succession of buildings, from cramped rented rooms above a hardware store to a French Second Empire courthouse with a mansard roof and clock tower. Structural failures forced repeated rebuilding, and a Romanesque Revival courthouse of 1897 gave way in 1932 to a modern Art Deco building when the East Texas oil boom overwhelmed county business. That Depression-era courthouse, much enlarged, still serves today.
Why it matters
The county's changing courthouses chart the arc of East Texas history, from Reconstruction-era settlement to the transformative oil boom that reshaped the region.
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Related people
- · F. E. Ruffini
- · Marshall R. Sanguinet
Related events
- · East Texas oil boom
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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