BONHAM, Texas — Oh, how I love watching old things become new, as is the case in Fannin County, where crews are finishing up work restoring a 19th-century courthouse into tip-top shape.
Fannin County Judge Randy Moore said the county will move back into the renovated structure by the first week of January. There will be one notable piece of work to be completed, he said: the “main courtroom,” which he said contains a lot of woodwork that will need to fine-tuned and polished up.
“All the other offices are going to be back in there,” he said.
The courthouse has been paid for with a Texas Historical Preservation grant that funded the exterior work. The interior was paid for with county money.
The exterior grounds will not be finished when employees report for work in the newly restored building, which now has a fully functional clock tower on top. Allow me to say without question that the clock tower is an impressive structure that one can see from a good distance as you approach downtown Bonham.
Moore said the landscaping should be done by the spring, and the courthouse will be as good as it was when it opened up all those many decades ago.
The county judge beams with pride when talking about the structure. I figure he likes old things made new as much as I do.
Well done.