- City:
- Rockwall, TX
- Site Type:
- Civic Facilities, Courthouses (State & Local)
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1938
- Completed:
- 1940
- Designer:
- Voelcker and Dixon
Description
Rockwall County is the smallest county in Texas and was primarily agricultural during the Great Depression. By 1940, fifteen percent of the available workers were doing relief jobs or in search of work. The federal government kept the county government from bankruptcy with federal relief funds.
Through the Work Projects Administration (originally named the Works Progress Administration), a new courthouse was constructed to replace the old one built in 1893. Voelcker and Dixon designed the $100,000 Moderne style stone structure, the third courthouse for Rockwall County.
The county renovated the courthouse in 2002 and built a new courthouse at another location in 2011. Although trial court functions were moved to the new courthouse, the historic courthouse still houses the Rockwall County Commissioners’ Court and Tax Office.
Source notes
The Handbook of Texas Online https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcr10 Andrews, Michael. "Historic Texas Courthouses". Albany, Texas: Bright Sky Press, 2006. p259.Site originally submitted by Larry Moore on June 10, 2014.
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