Ellis County Courthouse

The Ellis County Courthouse sits right in the Waxahachie town square like so many others.  Completely unassuming, county business gets done there as locals come and go and tourists pass by on their way to various downtown shops and restaurants.  But is there something more to this historic building?

The marker reads:

    "Ellis County's first courthouse was made of cedar logs and built here in 1850. A second courthouse was built on this square in 1853 and a third in 1874. In 1894 Virginia native and San Antonio architect James Riely Gordon was commissioned to design the fourth Ellis County courthouse to be built at this site. 

    The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1895, and the courthouse completed in 1897 with each of its main entrances purposely oriented toward true North, South, East and West compass points. Faces which adorn the courthouse were sculpted by European stonemasons. 

    The Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style used by Gordon to design this building was created by Bostonian Henry Hobson Richardson in the 1870s and popularized in Texas by Gordon. For this structure Gordon deviated from previous Texas courthouses he had designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by displaying open, two-story arcaded and colonnaded porticos on the exterior of the building and placing entrances at inside angles. Red and gray granite from Central Texas and red sandstone from the Pecos River in West Texas were used to build this courthouse. Gordon's Ellis County courthouse design set a new standard for other public buildings erected in Texas."

But is there more to this story?  Check out the video:

@tkentvideo They’re watching #waxahachie #texas #elliscounty #courthouse #design #face #sculpt #creepy #weird #roadside #weird #hidden #easteregg #architecture #gargoyle #legend #secret #spooky ♬ Creepy and simple horror background music(1070744) - howlingindicator

Daisy Bradford No. 3 Discovery Well

The East Texas Oil Boom was kicked off by the by the Daisy Bradford No. 3 Discovery Well in the Kilgore area.  It was a gusher and there are a few monuments you can visit including the official Historical Marker.

 

It reads:

     "Discovery genius was C. M. (Dad) Joiner, 70-year-old Oklahoman who for years believed there was oil in Rusk County. Driller was E. C. Laster. Crew: Dennis May, Dave Cherry, Glenn Pool, Jim Lambert and Dave Hughes. 
     Joiner's 2 early efforts failed-- one with a jammed bit, one with the drill pipe stuck. The rig was next skidded 300' down slope. "This is as good a place as any," said Laster. Then on May 8, 1929, Joiner No. 3 Daisy Bradford was spudded in. Equipment consisted of an old rotary rig powered by a single-cylinder engine; one 45 hp boiler; one old cotton gin boiler fired with soggy oak and pine chunks by roustabout Dan Tanner. The depression was on, and money scarce. The crew often went without pay. Joiner sacrificed much of his 10,000 acre block of leases. Finally, on Sept. 5, 1930, a drill stem logged at 3536' into the Woodbine Formation showed oil. A better rig had to be brought in. On Oct. 3, 1930, the well blew in and oil went over the crown block. The boom was on.
     Cars were bumper-to-bumper on all access roads. Derricks rose in all directions. In its first 30 years, this great field produced more than 3.5 billion barrels of oil. It now covers some 200 square miles-- the largest in the world. (1965)"

A few years back we shot some video on the topic.  In it, Devin takes a look at the history of the oil boom and we talk with author and historian Terry Stembridge: