Photographed May 5, 2007.
Borden County was one of the first courthouses I photographed. It's located on US 180, a wonderful route that parallels IH-20 and passes through 10 county seats beginning with Weatherford (just west of Fort Worth), Palo Pinto, Breckenridge, Albany, Anson, Roby, Snyder, Gail, Lamesa, and Seminole, just before entering New Mexico. Then, US 180 re-enters Texas and finishes its westward journey in El Paso, for a total of 11 courthouses!
Borden County is named for Gail Borden of Galveston, inventor of condensed milk. Mr. Borden never set foot in the county named for him, but he gets extra points for being the only Texan with a county seat and a county named for him. (i.e. Gail, Borden)
As counties go, it's pretty empty: only about 729 persons were counted in the 2000 census. Gail is the only community of note in Borden County. As you can see from the photos, it's a sparsely settled town.
The courthouse dates from 1939 and was designed by David S. Castle. Befitting the population of Borden County, it's a small, one-story building. The style is generic Moderne with some bas-relief scuptural accents. This building replaced an 1890 courthouse. I haven't found a photo of that building.
On the back porch of the courthouse I found the home of the "courthouse cat" along with a sign on the door regarding unwanted entry by said cat.
The adjacent county jail was constructed in 1896 by Diebold Safe and Lock for $4,500. It boasts 2 foot thick stone walls and 1/3 inch thick steel plate floors, walls, and ceilings! There must have been some bad guys in Borden County in those days.
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