Ellis County Courthouse

Ellis County Courthouse

Historical Data

Ellis County Courthouse
Location: Courthouse Square, Main St., Waxahachie
Built 1895-1897 of Texas granite, limestone, marble. Over east door sculptor carved face of beautiful local girl he admired. Example of Romanesque Revival building. Victorian period. The architect was J. Reilly Gordon. [1969]

A second marker for the Courthouse was placed in 1993. Text reads as follows:
Ellis County ’s first courthouse was made of cedar logs and built here in 1850. A second courthouse was built on this square in 1853 and a third in1874. In 1894 Virginia Native and San Antonio Architect James Reilly Gordon was commissioned to design the fourth Ellis County courthouse to be built at this site. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1895, and the courthouse completed in 1897 with each of its main entrances purposely oriented toward North, South, East and West compass points. Faces which adorn the courthouse were sculpted by European stonemasons. The “Richardsonian Romanesque” architectural style used by Gordon to design this building was created by Bostonian Henry Hobson Richardson in the 1870s and popularized in Texas by Gordon. For this structure Gordon deviated from previous Texas courthouses he had designed in the “Richardsonian Romanesque” style by displaying open, two-story arcades and colonnades porticos on the exterior of the building and placing entrances at inside angles. Red and gray granite from Central Texas and red sandstone from the Pecos River in West Texas were used to build this courthouse. Gordon ’s Ellis County courthouse design set a new standard for other public buildings erected in Texas.

info from Ellis County TXGenweb – Historic Markers and Monuments

National Register of Historic Places data

Ellis County Courthouse Historic District
(added 1975 – Ellis County – #75001971)
Roughly bounded by both sides of Waxahachie Creek N to Union Pacific RR tracks & between both sides of Elm and Flat Sts., Waxahachie
(250 acres, 48 buildings, 2 structures)
Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: et al., Gordon,J. Reilley
Architectural Style: Other, Classical Revival, Romanesque
Area of Significance: Architecture, Engineering, Transportation, Industry, Commerce
Period of Significance: 1875-1899, 1900-1924
Owner: Private , Local Gov’t
Historic Function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic, Government, Industry/Processing/Extraction
Historic Sub-function: Correctional Facility, Courthouse, Financial Institution, Hotel, Manufacturing Facility
Current Function: Commerce/Trade, Government, Industry/Processing/Extraction, Transportation
Current Sub-function: Correctional Facility, Courthouse, Extractive Facility, Financial Institution, Government Office, Road-Related

Camera info
Canon EOS Rebel T1i
Tamron 18-275mm lens
F-stop f/9.5
Exposuren 1/250
ISO 100
Focus 18mm

HDR data
tripod, 3 RAW images +2 to -2, Photomatrix Pro 3.2

Ellis County Courthouse belongs to the following groups:

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