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Stiles is located along Texas Route 137 about 19 miles north of Big Lake. It was once the seat of Reagan County, and the only remaining
structure is the 1910 Reagan County courthouse. To say that it has
deteriorated in the 17 years since Baker photographed it in 1982 is to put it
mildly.
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The
Reagan County courthouse as photographed by Baker in 1982. It's boarded up
and unused, but it looks to be pretty much intact and returnable to use if
someone wanted to restore it. |
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same courthouse structure on October 31, 1999. There was apparently a fire
at some point since 1982, as the roof is gone, the interior is gutted and open
to the sky, and there are what look like smoke stains around some of the windows
and along the roof line. The building is now surrounded by a fence with
no-trespassing signs posted. I'm sure it's unsafe to enter, and I wouldn't
be surprised if the building was knocked down for safety reasons some time in
the near future. The building is in the middle of nowhere about 2/10 of a
mile from the highway and is easily visible from the highway. There was
not a soul around to inquire about what happened, and the historical marker,
which was back on the highway, doesn't mention anything about a fire. It
does say that the courthouse activities were moved to Big Lake in 1925. |
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Added 12/12/99: I received an email from Austin Hellwig, who
informed me that he did an internet search about the burning of this courthouse
and discovered an article in the San Angelo Standard-Times from January
5, 1999 describing the fire. It occurred on Sunday, January 3, 1999,
and was believed to be caused by arson. (The article is no longer
available online.)
There was a follow-up article in the Standard-Times a few days later stating
that evidence was being sent to a lab to see if the arsonist(s) could be
identified, but I found no additional articles on the subject over the following
month. There had been plans to restore the
courthouse, but those were apparently thwarted by the fire, although some in the
area were encouraging those with the restoration plans to proceed anyway. |
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A closer view of one of
the courthouse entrances. The interior is visible and is open to the
elements. Interestingly, the keystone in the arch visible in the
foreground is falling through. The photo was taken through the fence. |
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The
view of the old Reagan County courthouse in Stiles as seen from the location of
the historical marker along Texas Route 137. The blue buildings in front
are metal storage sheds. I don't know what's stored in them, and there was
no one around to ask. |
On 2/8/04, I received the following email from resident of
the area who saw this website:"The courthouse is still
standing and you can walk through the holes in the fence pretty easily.
The cemetery out there is interesting to see also."
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