THE GODDESS OF GREGG COUNTY
I already knew that the Gregg County Courthouse in Longview didn't qualify as one of the most beautiful historic courthouses of Texas but I had recently learned that there was a beautiful statue of a goddess on the courthouse lawn so my first stop was just a couple miles from the auto dealership to check it out.
The goddess is shown inscribing a Confederate memorial with the names of war heroes. Like most courthouse lawns throughout the state, there is generally a Veterans memorial of some type and very frequently a tribute to the thousands of young men who served the Confederacy during the Civil War.
And now for a little perspective on the size of this monument.
The Gregg County Courthouse, built in 1932 is described as an Art Deco style. If you ask me, it looks like a bunch of Legos. It's just a big box that's been added on to a gazillion times and if not for the goddess out front, it wouldn't have even deserved a stop.
Gregg County's population was listed as almost 122,000 as of the latest census, with Longview, the county seat, accounting for a little more than 80,000 of that number. The county was named after John Gregg, a Confederate general who was killed in action. Longview has hosted the Great Texas Balloon Race, a hot-air balloon festival, annually since 1978.
Tomorrow's stop: Daingerfield
13 comments:
I really love the first two shots.
Beautiful goddess! The building looks very familiar to me for some reason. I think it reminds me of the city hall building in St. Paul Minnesota.
The goddess statue is beautiful. Great shots!
I love art deco and I can see it in this building so I kind of like it even though it isn't as elegant as some that you have shown us. The monument is quite grand.
Comparing the courthouse to Lego was brilliant, Kathy! The goddess improves the grounds a lot.
she is lovely. liked the lego comparison. :)
I would love to see this place. It's beautiful. I would walk and walk there and took also a few pictures.
Very beautiful and inspiring pictures.
Hugs from Kaya
This was interesting to scroll down to this and see another incarnation of my local courthouse.(Except its shorter!) This was build with WPA (Works Progress Administration) funding. So I am wondering if this style was what WPA encouraged to be built with their funds? Only thinking in terms of Gregg Co., a woman mentioned St. Paul and my local courthouse. Some counties, even in relaying history, would not mention WPA funds since they often don't like to accept same (but they did then and still do.) I am going to mail you a photo of my courthouse and the little story that went with it!
Cheers,
Jo
I guess you get a two for one deal with this monument.
Our federal courthouse looks. similar. All straight lines and kind of blocky looking. No flights of fantasy that I associate with Deco.
This is very attractive...love the memorial statue!
She really is beautiful!
The face of the Godess writing the names looks so real and impressive. And I ws surprised to see the full size of the monument, so big!
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