{"nrhp_refnum":"82004513","name":"Lynn County Courthouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Public Sq.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tahoka","county":"Lynn County","state":"TX","lat":33.16447657700007,"lon":-101.79597422199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-07-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story, red brick veneered reinforced concrete courthouse and jail on the public square in Tahoka, Lynn County, Texas, built in 1916 in the Neo-Classical style to designs by architect W.M. Rice.","why_significant":"It is Lynn County's first permanent courthouse and a major historical and architectural landmark in the county. It is one of the older surviving courthouses on the Texas South Plains and the largest non-agricultural building in the county. It also represents the settlement and expansion of the Panhandle-South Plains region in the early twentieth century.","narrative":"Lynn County Courthouse, completed in December 1916 on the town square of Tahoka, Texas, is a three-story reinforced concrete building faced in dark red brick with light stone detailing. Architect W.M. Rice of Amarillo designed it in the Neo-Classical style, and A.Z. Rodgers of Henrietta served as contractor. A 1915 bond election authorized $100,000 to replace the earlier two-story wood frame courthouse. The building has four colossal porticos with fluted stone Ionic columns, a raised basement, and an Ionic entablature. When new, it offered electric lights, water closets, steam heat and a septic tank. The original steam heating system remains in use. Aluminum windows replaced the wooden ones in the early 1970s, and new entrance doors were installed in 1976. As Lynn County's first permanent courthouse and the largest non-agricultural building in the county, it dominates the surrounding commercial structures and is visible across the flat plains. It also belongs to a group of early twentieth century courthouses in the Panhandle-South Plains region.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"A.Z. Rodgers, Builder/W.M. Rice, Architect","architectural_style":"Neo-Classical (Classical Revival Neo-Classical)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as the county courthouse; the exterior has changed little, though windows were replaced in the early 1970s and the north and south doors in 1976. The third floor is closed off and unused.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.750716-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/9728/40972894/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/82004513.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004513/62dc0ea495-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004513/62dc0ea495-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lynn_county_courthouse_2009.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lynn_county_courthouse_2009.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972894","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_County_Courthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110000484"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/lynn-county/lynn-county-courthouse-82004513/"}