Colfax County Courthouse - Raton NM

City:: Raton, NM
Site Type:: Civic Facilities, Courthouses (State & Local)
New Deal Agencies:: Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding
Started:: 1936
Completed:: 1937
Designers:: R. W. Vorhees, Townes & Funk
Contractor:: W. Frank Litle Construction Co.

Description

The historic Colfax County Courthouse was constructed with the assistance of the federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.). The P.W.A. provided a $110,455 grant for the project, whose total cost was $272,377. Construction occurred between 1936 and 1937.

Santa Fe Trail:

The Colfax County Courthouse is a five-story blond brick building typical of the 1936 Art Deco style architecture. Embellishments include glazed tile cornices, bas-reliefs depicting local farming, mining & cattle raising, art deco light fixtures and local cattlebrands are bronzed over exterior doors. Terrazzo floors, tile wainscoating, chipped-tile roof on top story and flat roofs on lower areas make for quite an elaborate building for this region.

The building is one of the more elaborately decorated courthouses on the E side of the state. Similar New Deal architecture can also be found in West Texas.

P.W.A. Docket No. N.M. 1047 R

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 173.

Building dedication plaque

"Colfax County Courthouse/WPA Project," Santa Fe Trail, National Scenic Byway
<https://www.santafetrailnm.org/site133.html>

National Register of Historic Places
<https://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/nm/Colfax/state.html>

Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on February 3, 2018.