Hockley County Courthouse
Levelland, TexasBuilt in 1921.
At the commissioners' first meeting, which was actually held in a Cadillac on the proposed town square, the court ordered that a wooden courthouse be built and a windmill and well be erected on the square. In 1922, the town's name was changed to Levelland.
The Texas Historical Commission's (THC) nationally recognized and award-winning Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program (THCPP) has turned around the trend of disrepair and begun restoring these treasured historic landmarks. Texas has more historic courthouses than any other state. Today more than 240 courthouses still stand that are least 50 years old. About 80 were built before the turn of the 20th century. By the end of that century, most of these structures were significantly deteriorated due to inadequate maintenance, insensitive modifications or weather related damage. The Texas Historical Commission (THC) documented the condition of 50 of the state’s oldest courthouses in the late 1990s and determined that counties lacked the resources to preserve the buildings for future generations.
The Texas Rangers, a famous law enforcement agency, were first organized in 1835 to protect settlers from Native American attacks.