This week’s article will cover the 1885 Historical Courthouse of Shelby County. I am featuring the courthouse again as the next exhibit at the museum will showcase the history of the 1885 courthouse.  The information was taken from a collection of articles written on the courthouse and its rich history.

Everyone knows the history of how Center became the county seat of Shelby County in 1866. Prior to that time, the county seat was in Shelbyville. During the early settlement of Shelby County, Shelbyville was the main town. The name was changed from Nashville to Shelbyville at the beginning of the Republic of Texas era. This area was to later become Shelby County was first known as the Teneha Municipality while still a part of Mexico. Shelby County was one of the original 23 counties established during the Republic of Texas days.

Jesse Amason and J.C. Wilson each gave 50 acres of land to the county to be sold by them for town lots. This area was surveyed by Sam Weaver. This was the beginning of Center after the records were stolen from Shelbyville in August 1866 during the middle of the night and brought to the wooded area where R.L. Parker had previously built a small log building naming it Shelby County Court Records. Legend has Mr. Parker sitting in front of the small building holding a gun and saying, “Shelby County Clerk Office is now open for business!” No one challenged Mr. Parker and his gun.

The first Shelby County courthouse at Center was later replaced with a larger wooden one. This is the courthouse house that burned in 1882.  The first session of county court in Shelby County in the new county seat (1866) was held in the home of Judge J.C. Tatum which was located about 1 ½ miles N.E. of the newly formed town of Center.  The first session of district court was presided over by Judge Wallace of San Augustine with M.W. Wheeler as district attorney and James Yarbrough sheriff. (Note: this information was shared by Mattie Dellinger in her Box 744 articles.)

Found in the Commissioners’ Minutes, Book I – November 15, 1882 – Bonds for $1500 ordered to build courthouse, clerks’ building, and jail. $3300 to be invested in county bonds to bear interest 5% per annum to run for 15 years for building courthouse, clerk’s office, and jail; bonds bearing 8% per annum ordered for bridge construction in county.

Jan 1, 1884 – Y.W. Rogers appointed to thin out timber on public land.
Oct 16, 1884 – Gibson and McLaughlin advanced $400 in county bonds as collateral.
March 26, 1908 – ordered to have iron fence built around courthouse.
August 10, 1908 – Iron fence ordered NOT to be built around courthouse.
August 10, 1910 - R.H. Cline to paint the courthouse. (Color was not named)
March 15, 1911 – Fence around courtyard ordered to be repaired.

The burning of the old wooden courthouse gave architect, John Joseph Emmett Gibson, the opportunity to build the Irish castle style courthouse. Shelby county officials, who were satisfied that the fire was no accident, offered a $1000 reward “for the arrest and conviction of the party or parties who burned the courthouse at Center…….” This reward was never claimed.

On June 12, 1882, just 11 days after the fire that destroyed the courthouse, the Commissioners had an agreement with J.J.E. Gibson to construct a fireproof County Clerk’s Office. No more burned records for Shelby County! This building would look like the 1885 jail on the northwest corner of the lawn, except it was a one-story building with iron shutters. It was just about where the country women restroom was located (Note: The County Clerk’s office was demolished some time after the Annex or Records Building was built in 1913. The building known as the women’s restroom was later built in 1944/1945 and the local chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas now occupy this building. The building known as the Bandstand was originally built in 1923 and was remodeled in 1944/1945.)

Specifications and plans for the Clerk’s Office were submitted by Mr. Gibson after a short period of time. The plan was accepted by the Commissioners on November 15, 1882, and a contract was let to build a fireproof brick building with slate roof and iron shutters for the sum of $1725 to be paid in four installments as building progressed. The last installment for the Clerk’s Office was to be paid upon completion. On February 13, 1883, the building was inspected by a committee composed of O.R. Hooper, E.S. Hicks, and W.P. Wilson. The committee recommended the Commissioners Court accept the work and pay Mr. Gibson the final payment for the new County Clerk’s Office.
Now, a little more information about John James Emmett Gibson, the architect of the Courthouse. Gibson came from a family of Irish castle builders. Born in County Ballymore, Ireland, in 1849, he grew up in Dublin and already had studied architect by the time he immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri in April of 1865. The building was designed by Gibson to resemble the Scottish castles of his childhood. The building, with its many prominent chimneys, tall and narrow windows, and a cupola in the middle of a high-pitched roof which looked like a lookout behind the battlements of old castles, was made of hand-fashioned brick, by the builder. The brickyard, where the bricks were made of native clay, was less than two blocks from the site of construction.

Just think Mr. Gibson did not have any modern equipment. There was no electricity, no railroads, and no modern or paved highways. Roads were worse than just trails through the woods. Lack of transportation made it necessary for the builders of the courthouse to use materials that were available naturally in this area. There was an abundant supply of timber such as virgin pine, oak, ash, and cypress forests to furnish raw products. Sawmills were available to cut the trees into whatever shape or form that was necessary for the job. The shutter system designed by these craftsmen right on the job was the most sophisticated method known at the time to control light and air circulation. More than 2 million bricks were made for the courthouse. This alone was a monumental feat. The bricks manufactured for the courthouse were a little larger than normal bricks.

Gibson began work on the courthouse in 1884 and made good progress until winter, when a “Blue Norther” howled in one night and froze the mortar between nine feet of brick that workman had laid the day before. Gibson asked and was refused a delay until the weather conditions improved. The Commissioners’ Court rejected Gibson’s itemized account of damages to the courthouse caused by the freeze and would not pay the extra repairs totaling $1773. 47.

An extension for completion of the courthouse to November 1, 1885, was granted on June 16, 1885, but it was February 12, 1886, when the commissioners formally accepted the courthouse. Its impassioned history continued when the court refused to pay Mr. Gibson for the repairs he had done to the building due to the “Blue Northern” weather. Bitterness, and some say bankruptcy for Mr. Gibson, followed, and on August 1, 1895, he wrote an open letter to the people of Shelby County, protesting the action of the court. Nevertheless, on August 12, 1895, there appears in the Minutes of the Court the following:  “The account of J.J.E. Gibson against Shelby County for repairs on Courthouse of Shelby County for the amount of $2700 with 8% interest from February 12, 1895 amounting to the sum of $4, 747. Seen and considered by the court, the same is rejected.

However, on February 10, 1891, the court did allow and issued a draft for $14.15 to Gibson for slate for roofing on the courthouse; and in March 1891 paid $38 for repairing the courthouse roof and $2 for repairs on cupola.

The cupola was not just ornamentation; it was part of a unique “air-conditioning” system utilizing louvers on the cupola and vents in the ceiling of the court room, so that the hot air, rising, was exhausted through the vents into the cupola, as smoke rises through a chimney. When the court room was air-conditioned with modern equipment in 1970, the louvers on the cupola were replaced with glass windows. Pigeons and other birds have constantly broken the glass, and the cupola often serves them as cotes. (Note: also referred to as 'culverhouses' (English), 'columbaria' (Latin) and 'doocots' (Scots.) In 1981, the lawyers holding court complained of the distractions caused by pigeons flying around in the high ceiling, a door to the cupola was found having been carelessly left open.

The specification for the courthouse calls for the painting of certain trim around the chimneys, windows, and watershed, but not the whole building. On August 6, 1910, the commissioners authorized R.H. Cline to paint the courthouse, and as nearly all Shelby County citizens remember it as being a cream color, that is perhaps the time when it was painted in its entirety.

Note: There is more history on this awesome building so come by the museum to see the new exhibit on the builders of the “Irish Castle” courthouse.