The History of Ector County
Court Houses

Odessa TX First Court House 1882-1904 ( 1 of 4 )
On July 16, 1891 the commissioners' court entered an order that one George Bruce was to remove the Municipal Sanitarium to the Center of Block 35, and such building was to be used for the County Courthouse. He was to be paid $300.00, to give a a bond with two good sureties, and to complete the job by August 29, 1891, at which time it was to be accepted by the county judge and Commissioner James Bolton.
This was the first courthouse of Ector County, and it stood in the same location as the present one. It was a white, two-story frame building. The top floor was used for the courtroom of the county and the district courts. The ground floor had four rooms; two rooms were used for the school, one room was used for the sheriff, and the fourth room was used jointly by the county and district clerks. 

The Odessa Sanitarium.
Established in 1886 by Odessa Town site Company. The Odessa Medical and Surgical Sanitarium was directed by Dr. R. E. Haughton, a former Railroad Physician from Indiana. It was located in a two-story wooden structure of twenty rooms. By March 1890 the project had failed. Dr. Haughton moved to Midland, the building became a haven for migrant families. A portion was used as a church. When Ector County wad created in January 1891, the Sanitarium was moved several blocks and became the First Ector County Courthouse.

In 1904 it was ordered by the court that a new courthouse was to be built just south and in front of the old one. One W. T. Malone was ordered to the visit Quito Quarry to examine the sandstone to see if it could be used in the erecting of the new courthouse.
On July 29, 1904, the cornerstone of the Ector County courthouse was laid. There were several things that were placed in the cornerstone for the purpose of posterity, some of which are letters that, to my knowledge, have never been published. The railroad in Ector County was the biggest thing that the county had, so it was only natural that the agent of the railroad, J. M. Frame, place a letter in the cornerstone, which he did. Mr. Frame indicates in his letter that there was "nothing here but stock raising though maybe farming or granger county some day, not much prospects for the town to grow". Although his prediction did not come true as to the growth of the town, still as to stock raising and farming he is correct today.

August 2, 1904.
This historic scene depicts the first Ector County courthouse as it is being replaced by the second courthouse. The official ceremonies dedicating the cornerstone. Jesse L. Frame, editor of the Odessa Times, is just behind the cornerstone. He is wearing a black hat and his head is down. The Wooden Building in the Background is the original courthouse built in 1891.You can see the orchard to the
left of the photo. It appears the sand stone Court House was built south of Original Frame building.
and later removed upon completion of the new structure. 

This aerial photo (cropped from a large aerial image) shows the structure facing South toward the Railroad on 3rd Street, with N. Grant Ave.to the left of the image. Many Odessa Residents no doubt thought all the court houses faced Grant Ave.; but number three was the first to face toward the West as noted by this photograph.

Ector County Court House 1904-1938 (2 of 4)

The second Ector County Courthouse, built in 1904, is shown during an election in the late 1920s. In 1938 it was replaced by the present courthouse. This Photo was taken from the roof of the Elliott Hotel by Jack Nolan. The Courthouse itself was a two-story red stone structure. In its day, the courthouse probably was one of Odessa's finest attractions. On the opening day of the courthouse in 1904, a masquerade ball was held in the courthouse and an immense tray of artificial flowers was passed to the single gentleman present, each picking one flower. The flower determined the identity of their female companion for the ball.
Quoting from "Odessa City of Dreams" The old red stone courthouse, which was torn down in 1938 to make way for one of the most modern and attractive buildings in West Texas, is said to have been bought by Mr. Polk Bagley. He in turn sold the material to various individuals to pay for the removal of the structure. Mr. Glen Allen contracted for some of the sand stone. He used it to build his ranch home between Odessa and Monahans. I was told he imported expert masons from Mexico to contract the work. It was rough work, as many of those nice square sand stone blocks were broken in the dismantling and the move. Doctor Headlee used some of the sand stone to build fences and improve his ranch property on the East side of town. At one time the courthouse lawn was covered with big cottonwood trees. There was a windmill and a tank in the northeast corner of the block, and on picnic days the youngsters all went swimming in the tank. The trees had to go to make way for "Progress". 

Ector County Court House 1938-1964 (3 of 4)

Ector County House 1964-today  # 4
Court house #3 intact, is inside all the masonry seen here.

Updated: 08/06/06

Photographs, Courtesy: Ector County Library South West History.
Some of the data published by Odessa American in years past.