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Courthouse Square Commercial Buildings

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1885–1910. Bounded by Dallas/Trinity, York/Houston, and Austin/College aves., and Church St.

The Weatherford square and adjacent streets consist largely of late-nineteenth-century, two-story, Italianate buildings with masonry walls, some with cast-iron first-story pilasters for the storefronts, and pressed metal cornices. Notable are the former Hill Building (c. 1885; 100–108 E. Church) and the former Citizens National Bank (1885; 101 N. Main Street) with its chamfered corner and two-story rock-faced limestone facade. The bank routing code system for checks still used today was invented here in 1902 by cashier James P. Owens.

The most extraordinary building on the square is the former Knights of Pythias Building (Lone Star Lodge No. 4) of c. 1900 at 112 Houston. Appropriately for an organization with “Knights” in its name, the castellated two-story red brick structure features a corner turret (its spire or finial lost). The central bay steps up to accommodate a brick niche in which a Tin Man–like knight with shield and sword stands. The castellated style was utilized again for the Texas Pythian Home (1909; 1825 E. Bankhead Drive, private road not accessible), a home for widows and orphans of members.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Courthouse Square Commercial Buildings", [Weatherford, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-WC2.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 244-244.

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