Voters Back Texas Courthouse
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Nov. 13, 2008
Michael Andrews, author of the book "Historic Texas Courthouses" (2006), is a trustee emeritus of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
A small town on the Texas Panhandle was divided over the fate of its courthouse. On Election Day, voters in Randall County approved a referendum to restore—rather than tear down—the 1909 county courthouse which has been abandoned since 1994.
"It's good news, but we just need to keep the fire under [county officials]," says Krista Gebbia, executive director of Preservation Texas. That's because the referendum is "non-binding," and final approval to move forward with restoration rests with county commissioners.
The 23,000-square-foot courthouse, located in the town of Canyon, is eligible for grants from the Texas Historical Commission's Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program. Launched in 1999, the program gives partial matching grants to counties with the historic structures. (Texas has more historic courthouses than any other state; 243 are eligible for the program.)
The preservation program awarded Randall County a grant of $10,000 in 1991 to replace its old windows. County commissioners tried to return that money and tear down the building, but the grant stipulated that the Texas Historical Commission hold the deed until 2007.
After some county officials claimed it would cost only $92,000 to demolish the building, a local lawyer commissioned another estimate, which totaled $658,000.
"Voters, when they heard the real numbers, were in favor of [preservation]," says Wilson, who paid for radio and television ads to publicize the fact that it would cost more to tear down the courthouse than to restore it. "People were more attuned to economic development now and what the restoration of a centerpiece of the county would do for tourism. It has some bragging rights."
Randall County resident and attorney Mark Wilson says that $2.5 million has already been raised toward the $3.2 million restoration.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Texas ourthouses on its 1998 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. In the past nine years, the National Trust's Southwest Office has awarded about $100,000 in planning grants to rural county courthouses.
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Comments
Submitted by Brian at: December 20, 2008
Wow, destroy that? Amazing. Thank goodness for Wilson, who paid for advertising.