A beginning

We will try this a while and see how bad I mess it up.

This is being done to try to give folks an idea on background and status of the repairs and renovations presently being done on the Jack County Courthouse in Jacksboro, Texas.

As you probably know if you are here, I am currently serving as the County Judge in our county.

Courthouses have always held a special place in my heart.  Being an attorney has a lot to do with that.  The one here is especially dear.  When I saw it first in 1968, I thought to myself how much it looked like the Courthouse in Midland County where I grew up.  Later I discovered that there was a very good reason for that.  They were both designed by the architectural firm of Voelcker & Dixon of Wichita Falls; but more on them later.

Our courthouse was begun in 1939 and construction on it was finished in the Spring of 1940 which makes her 71 years old.  The courthouse is built on the town square that was initially vacant and is the third courthouse built at this location.

In the past 30 years or so there has been little done to preserve its original design and in some instances actions have even been taken to alter her original design.  Some have been to modernize here such as the adding of air conditioning to replace the old fans and the change out of some of the light fixtures inside which has made a much brighter work environment.

The County has applied a couple of times for Texas Historical Commission restoration grants but have narrowly missed.  Apparently we were still in pretty good shape and close to its original design so we did not score points well in these areas.

The primary current problems are relative to water leakage in and around our windows and through the roof.  Those have not been major problems now for several months because it has not rained.  But it will again.

Often just like in a home repair project you find that one thing leads to another and thus in trying to cure our water issues, the County has decided to address those problems evident on the courthouse's exterior and in doing so replace the roof, repair and paint the exterior of the windows, remove and restore the marble spandrels, replace the spandrels' support system, repair some the mortar in stone seams, and clean the stained limestone exterior.

"Spandrels?"  What are those?  Here, that term is applied to what you now see as gray panels between the upper floors of the courthouse.  You have probably seen them for years but did not know that they are actually large panels of beautiful marble.  They are a dark color of green with a large dose of black and are veined by cream colored streaks.  They were painted in 1984 by action of the Commissioners Court to attempt to seal them as they were cracking.  It is believed now that the cracking was caused by shifting of the panels as a result of the rusting of the iron supports that could not be seen with the panels in place.

About half of the panels have now been removed and taken to Tyler where they will be stripped, strengthened if necessary, and brought back placed back in position while the others will then be removed and also restored.

You now see scaffolding and lifts that are being used by the stone masons and those restoring the exterior of the windows.

To restore the windows, you have to ask yourself the question "restore to what?"  The window workers carefully removed the paint on the window trim in onw place to determine the original paint color.

The windows are being scrapped and painted with a blackish green paint that will blend into the color of the marble panels.  I will address that color schematic in my next posting.

Hope you enjoy this little blog.  Let me know what you think.