Ellis County Courthouse (1993)

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.

Ellis County Courthouse is a historical marker in Waxahachie, Ellis County, dedicated in 1993. It is one of 116 historical markers documented in Ellis County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 300 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.3856, -96.8477 near Waxahachie. The nearest cataloged historic site is Ellis County Courthouse (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Ellis County Courthouse, Ellis, Richard, Monument, and 1889 Masonic Lodge Hall.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5139007092. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.