The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 348

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Following a brief introduction, the authors of The Texas Courthouse
present an eight-page undocumented essay on historical events associat-
ed with various counties and courthouses. While many of these items
are interesting-particularly those relating to governmental aspects-the
essay contains some questionable observations on architecture. For ex-
ample, the fifth courthouse constructed by any county is labeled "pedes-
trian"; however, it is doubtful that either the Blanco County Court-
house (1916), a classic temple, or the Brazos County structure (1965),
a contemporary design, should be so described.
The essay on history is followed by a section of photographs of extant
courthouses, most of which were taken in 1969 by J. Larry Nance. Al-
though some photos, such as those of the courthouses in Polk, Trinity,
Val Verde, and Wheeler counties, are quite attractive, numerous illus-
trations are spoiled by close cropping, poor selection of camera position,
or failure to have held the camera level. Since many of Texas's most
interesting courthouses have been razed, it seems unfortunate that his-
torical photos were excluded.
A section following the photographs relates the origin of the name
and date of creation of each of Texas's 254 counties, and includes dates
of building as well as construction costs of courthouses. Although the
material on county histories is mostly to be found in The Handbook of
Texas, the information on construction is not readily available from
any other source and should prove useful, although some ambiguities
appear. For example the Dallas County Courthouse is a stone building
erected in 189o-1892, not an 188o brick work as the authors assert; and
the Collin County building is dated 1874 in the text, yet the illustration
indicates its style as clearly twentieth century.
With only fifty-one entries, the bibliography will be of little help to
the reader interested in the history of Texas courthouses.
Texas Tech University WILLARD B. ROBINSON
Tapadero: The Making of a Cowboy. By Willie Newbury Lewis. (Aus-
tin: University of Texas Press, 1972. Pp. xvi+ 189. Illustrations,
map, index. $7.50.)
Life in the Texas Panhandle from 1885 to 19goo is depicted in fascinat-
ing detail in this book on the making of a cowboy. Will Lewis was a frail
Maryland youth of not quite fifteen when he arrived in the new frontier
town of Clarendon. His father opened a small store there and was a

348