Cass County Courthouse
Public Sq., Linden, TXThe Neo-Classical Revival Cass County Courthouse, prominently located on the public square in Linden, is the oldest continuously used courthouse in Texas. Serving as a visual reference point that defines the townscape, this building is a reminder of past civic pride when the courthouse was a symbol of peace and of the protection of society. The original brick structure, built in 1859-60 is encased on two sides by additions occurring at the turn of the century, in 1917 and following a fire in 1933.
The present courthouse is actually the second courthouse built in Linden on this site, and Linden is the second county seat of Cass County. In 1846 the original county offices were located in Jefferson, Texas, County commissioners moved the county seat to Linden in 1852. By 1853 a two-story, frame courthouse was built on the same site as the present courthouse, Thomas J. Foster, Sr., the contractor, did the logging and built the first pit saw and lumber mill in Linden for the purpose of building the courthouse. His was also the first business in towns.
The 1859-60 Cass County Courthouse precisely followed the mid-19th century formula for courthouses given in Texas Public Buildings of the Nineteenth Century, by W. B. Robinson,
"...formal compositions... two-story blocks, approximately thirty-two feet high, on either square or rectangular plans. Usually, the roof was hipped, and the whole composition was crowned and unified by a square or octagonal cupola, Located in the center of the public square, the courthouse had entries...on all four facades - giving equal prominence to a commercial property on all sides."
The courthouse was the site of the early legal work of former Congressman Wright Patman and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Ralph Hicks Harvey.
While many changes to the structure have taken place over time, these changes represent the history and development of the building and they have acquired a significance of their own. Another addition is being planned in a manner sympathetic to the Neo-Classical Revival style architecture that the building took on in 1900. Neither this new addition nor previous additions should make this building any less worthy of preservation. The building remains in good condition and its current intense use serves the best interests of the building itself and the community of Linden, where typically the public square was a focus for community life and commercial activity. Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.