Irion County Courthouse – Mertzon TX

City:
Mertzon, TX

Site Type:
Civic Facilities, Courthouses (State & Local)

New Deal Agencies:
Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Completed:
1937

Designer:
David S. Castle

Contractor:
Balfanz Construction Co

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided funding and labor toward the development of the Irion County Courthouse in Mertzon, Texas. It is unclear whether the WPA was directly involved in the building’s construction or if it undertook landscaping efforts around the courthouse square. Per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “total cost of the building and landscaping will be $110,000.”

Irion County Seat Moved In Election
By a vote of 453 to 222 nine more than a two-thirds majority, Irion county voted today to move its county seat from Sherwood to Mertzon.
A $90.000 bond issue was voted in June and a $40.000 grant from the WPA has been applied for to construct the new building.
The new courthouse will be the third county building for the county. The new state highway No. 10 misses Sherwood by two miles. The county was organized in 1899.

The Irion County Courthouse was built in 1937, per the cornerstone plaque at the door.
IRION COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Erected AD 1937
COMMISSIONER’S COURT
R. J. Atkinson, County Judge
S. F. Ollis, Precinct No. 1
Willis B. Burke, Precinct No. 2
Art Chandler, Precinct No. 3
L. T. White Precinct No. 4
J.A. Boyd, Sheriff & Tax Assessor – Collector
T.P. Lawdermilk, County Clerk
Mrs. Mary Boyles, Treasurer
David S. Castle Co. Architects
Balfanz Construction Co Contractors

The Great Depression years featured dry ranges, dust storms, short crops, low markets, and unemployment. Federal programs for the purchase of cattle and sheep helped, as did other relief projects, including a Red Cross sewing and knitting venture. By 1937 conditions looked brighter, as wool and meat prices rose and the Work Projects Administration provided partial funding for a new courthouse.

The 1937 Irion County courthouse was designed by the David S. Castle Company. Castle designed several handsome Classical Revival style courthouses in Texas during the 1920s. In the late 1930s, Castle’s designs had matured to the more severe, Art-Moderne style, as seen in the 1937 Irion County courthouse.

Source notes

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, Texas 06 Sep 1936, Sun (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31199828/mertzon_county_courthouse_wpa/).

Cornerstone.

Texas State Historical Association (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hci01).

Texas Escapes (https://www.texasescapes.com/WestTexasTowns/Mertzon-Texas-Irion-County-Courthouse.htm).

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 19, 1937 (pg. 8) (https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/635959974/)

Site originally submitted by Eveline Evans on May 3, 2019.

Location Info


209 N. Parkview
Mertzon, TX 76941
Irion County County

Coordinates: 31.25879, -100.8193

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