Castro County Courthouses

The courthouses served a county that was slow to connect to the outside world. The railroad came late: a Fort Worth and Denver branch from Plainview reached Dimmitt only in July 1928, and the town incorporated that year. Wagon roads of the 1890s became dirt auto roads that wound along section lines and fence lines. State Highway 86 from Dimmitt to Tulia, the county's first paved highway, was not finished until 1941, and the Handbook of Texas records that this made Castro the last Texas county to get a paved road.

What the plaque says

Castro County Courthouses This site was set aside as the Dimmitt town square in 1891, the year Castro County was formally organized. Temporary court facilities were set up in J. N. Morrison's office while the first courthouse was built. An ornate two-story structure, it burned in 1906 after being hit by lighting. A brick courthouse with a central dome, built in 1908, was dedicated at a community picnic. It served until the 1930s, but was razed to make room for the present stone building. Built with Works Progress Administration labor, Castro County's third courthouse opened in 1939. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Deaf Smith County Historical Museum — 19 mi
  Hereford's county museum in an early Catholic school: the Windmill City's pioneers, a half-dugout and caboose outside, and work by the Italian prisoners held south of town in the war.

More markers nearby

• Shoot-out on Jones Street — steps away
• Castro County — 1.2 mi
• Summerfield-Dameron Corner — 5.6 mi
• Holy Family Catholic Church — 12 mi