- City:
- Dimmitt, TX
- Site Type:
- Courthouses (State & Local), Civic Facilities, Military and Public Safety, Penal Facilities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1938
- Completed:
- 1939
- Designer:
- Townes & Funk
- Contractor:
- W. W. Hill Const. Co.
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The current Castro County Courthouse was constructed in large part with labor provided by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA).
Text from the state historical marker reads:
“This site was set aside as the Dimmitt town square in 1891, the year Castro County was formally organized. Temporary court facilities were set up in J. N. Morrison’s office while the first courthouse was built. An ornate two-story structure, it burned in 1906 after being hit by lighting. A brick courthouse with a central dome, built in 1908, was dedicated at a community picnic. It served until the 1930s, but was razed to make room for the present stone building. Built with Works Progress Administration labor, Castro County’s third courthouse opened in 1939. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986”
Furthermore, the project was enabled by the provision of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. The PWA supplied a grant of $56,250 toward the courthouse/jail’s construction; its total eventual cost was $114,085. Construction began in December 1938 and was completed December 1939. The building houses a Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works plaque and cites W. W. Hill Const. Co. as contractors.
PWA Docket No. TX X2434.
Source notes
National Archives: Record Group 135: Public Works Administration; Projects Control Division; Entry 52: Indices to Non-Federal Projects; Report No. 5: Status of All Completed Non-Federal Allotted Projects, page 189.
Building plaque
Site originally submitted by Larry D. Moore on April 3, 2015.
Additional contributions by Evan Kalish.
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