Tag Archives: Fannin County Courthouse

Hoping to see re-birthed courthouse

I take at least two trips a year to Bonham, in Fannin County, to see my doctor at the Sam Rayburn VA Medical Center.

This next visit coming up soon is going to reward me — I hope sincerely — with a look at a refurbished courthouse in the middle of Bonham’s downtown square.

I’ve written about it before on this blog, as well as reported on it for KETR-FM radio, where I serve as a freelance reporter for the station’s website.

Fannin County Judge Randy Moore has been salivating — figuratively, of course — over the prospect of settling back into the courthouse. The construction fences and the barricades came down in March.

The building is occupied. To which everyone I have spoken to in county government is expressing a huge sigh of relief and accomplishment.

According to KXII-TV: “It means everything to me,” said Barbara McCutcheon, the treasurer of the Fannin County Historical Commission. “I’m gonna cry. It was such an honor to work on it.”

The county secured a grant from the Texas Historical Commission and supplemented that money with a bond issue that voters approved in 2016. The final product came in over budget, but that did not deter the effort to complete the job. The COVID-19 pandemic, though, did throw a roadblock or two in front of the county along the way.

“It stopped a lot of things in its tracks, and you say, ‘well, how did that stop it?’ Well, we couldn’t get hinges for the doors,” said Judge Moore, according to KXII.

Still, the project is done. I am looking forward very soon to seeing it up close.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Old courthouse becomes new

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.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Courthouses need not remain empty … period!

I visited this week with a Northeast Texas county judge who is overseeing the restoration of a courthouse structure that he intends to reopen in its original splendor.

The work is being done in Bonham, the Fannin County seat. I am preparing a story for KETR-FM public radio on the project, so I won’t scoop myself with detail about that restoration effort.

I reminded the county judge, Randy Moore, about what happened to Randall County’s renovation of its historic courthouse. He knew all about it.

What happened in Canyon? The county obtained a historical preservation grant and used the money to restore the exterior of its 1909 courthouse. It finished that work, but along the way relocated all its government functions off-site.

The interior of that building remains empty. The outside looks great! It’s gorgeous. The county courthouse square is well-groomed. The area surrounding the square is full of businesses bustling with activity. There are antique shops, coffee shops, restaurants … you name it.

Despite all that success and the economic benefit that Canyon and Randall County have accrued from the project, I continue to wish that the county can find a feasible tenant who can occupy the courthouse structure.

Randy Criswell, the former Canyon city manager, told me once about a study the city did to determine whether it could relocate its City Hall in the historic courthouse. The city decided it could not. It was too costly.

My visit with the Fannin County judge, though, does restore my faith in a county’s commitment to retaining its courthouse functionality. To that end, I applaud Judge Moore’s strongly stated desire to ensure that Fannin County’s courthouse will be restored and reoccupied eventually, serving the county as its center of government.

I consider Randall County Judge Ernie Houdashell to be a friend and I long have admired the work he has done to shore up the county’s economic health.

I also have admired his deal-making skill, as exhibited — for example — in what he has brought to the Texas Panhandle Veterans Memorial in south Amarillo next to where the county annex used to sit.

My hope for Randall County is that Judge Houdashell can work his magic again to get to the old courthouse structure in the square in Canyon occupied. It deserves the same quality of life that has come to the area surrounding the square.