Is that a 'W'?
A few months back I was working on a logo for a City-related project, trying to come up with a stylized Waxahachie "W". While looking over some old photos it suddenly struck me that there were what appeared to be several W-shaped formations in the Ellis County Courthouse. Since the courthouse sits in the middle of downtown Waxahachie I immediately wondered if this was an intentional design or mere coincidence.
Thinking it over, it didn't seem like something that an architect in the late 19th century would concern themselves with. Maybe if this was an 1895 What-a-burger it would make sense, but certainly not on a government building. Especially since it was built for the County and not the City.
To satisfy my curiosity I did some quick research, looking at photos of the Decatur courthouse two counties up the road - both being designed by the same young architect, James Riely Gordon. The Decatur building looks very similar, though smaller and not quite as grand in my opinion. Sure enough, the same W-shaped formation appeared on at least one side of the structure.
Case closed right? Nothing to it... unless you take into account that this is the Wise County Courthouse. Could it be? I'm still thinking probably not. But maybe someone out there with more knowledge on the subject than I could settle this curiosity for me. I'm sure I could take some time to look at some of J. Reily's other projects around the state and see if the same feature exists on those. But no matter, I like the design aspects of it for my logo. It works for my purposes quite well as the new Waxahachie Preservationist logo, now splattered throughout this site (not to mention, now available on t-shirts, mugs, totes and more).
Even if it was never intended to be anything other than beautiful adornment, it could still have legs in local lore. After all, a good fiction-based legend goes hand-in-hand with this courthouse. Just go down to the Square on any Saturday and you are bound to find visitors (any many locals) pointing at the stone-carved faces and telling their audience about the lovely-to-grotesque transitions based on the legend of Mabel Frame and the loved-starved J. Gordon Riely. Purely fiction but makes for a great conversation piece on tour-guided buses every June during the Gingerbread Trail. Hey, it's just possible that her name wasn't really Mabel. Maybe it was Wilma.
©2012 by Kent Brewer