Old Harrison County Courthouse during the Wonderland of Lights

The Old Harrison Countny Courthouse is located in the center of Whetstone Square in Marshall, Texas and is one of the most famous and admired buildings in Texas. It is the signature landmark of Marshall and is frequently used to represent East Texas in travel literature.

The Old Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. From 1964 until 2000 the building housed the Harrison County Historical Museum . The buidling is noted as being the location of the first sit-ins in Texas. The Old Courthouse is currently being renovated and is temporarily closed to the public.

Design

The structure was designed by J. Riely Gordon and supervised by a local architect C. G. Lancaster.

The Dome

The building’s dome is its most distinctive feature and stands above a four-level rotunda. The rotunda is crowned by a coffered or false dome. Between the coffered dome and the outer dome are the workings of four faced clock , that has been recently restored. About the coffered dome is a hexagonal floor plan that's walls rise to support the outer dome.(???) Each wall of the hexagon houses three windows, on the outside is a portico that is aligned with each wall. Where the porticos meet, a v shaped pillar, made of bricks, rises to the cornace of the dome's border. Between the brick pillars of each portico are four marble columns; one on each side of every window. The windows are aligned to feed light through stained glass insets in the coffered dome.

A cornace separates the bottom of the dome from the top of the walls and extends over the porticos. A balustrade, runs the length of the top of the cornace and statues of perched eagles are located at all six corners. The north, south, east and west side of the dome are interrupted by the clock faces, which maintain a vertical position as the dome curves. On top of the dome is a false belfry, reminiscent of the lantern on top of the U.S. Capitol Building. On the top of the belfry is a statue of Lady Justicia. Lady Justicia is six feet tall and has the typical blindfold and scales, as well as a sword to administer justice.