The Rains County Courthouse in Emory is not one of the spectacular beauties of the Texas courthouses but it deserves mention. And it was on the path of my courthouses tour in August in between two of the real beauties so I didn't want to bypass or ignore it.
I think it's interesting that both the county and the county seat were named for one person, Emory Rains, an early Texas settler who served as a senator in the government of the Republic of Texas before the state's admission to the union. Senator Rains was the author of the Homestead Law of Texas which was later used as a model for the protection of homesteads throughout the United States.
Two previous courthouses in Rains County were destroyed by fire and this building, when constructed in 1908, was built around the vault of the 1884 courthouse. Almost all early day Texas courthouses were destroyed by fire and eventually county officials got wise and started building structures with steel vaults in order to protect county records from a fiery death. The current building is designed in the shape of a Maltese cross.
Population of Rains County: 11,000
Population of Emory: 1,200
Emory is 70 miles east of Dallas
12 comments:
Another great courthouse!
Love how you are documenting all of these beautiful buildings! Stunning image!
this one looks a lot like a high school in GA. same style. now all the files are in computers and if they crash how do we get to them?
Not quite as glorious as some of the others, but pretty stately just the same.
Although not as elaborate as some of the courthouses you've shown us, this one is still attractive. Serviceable. That's the word I'd use to describe it. Solid and serviceable.
It's a nice looking building and I love how they built it around the old vault.
i do like its 'arms'.
Still nice.
I see the flags were at half staff the day you were there.
Fire was a big problem back in the old days when lighting the inside of a building involved fire and oil.
I would say they did a nice job of rebuilding.
How interesting that its shape is a Maltese Cross. I wonder if this is significant.
Its shape was the first thing I noticed. I like the design of the two end wings.
It´s a nice building. I like that its built around the old vault. And I like that the design is a Maltese Cross, very interesting.
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