From the article “ New Mason County Court House”
Description “The building is to have four main entrances, which are reached by broad flights of easy steps; these entrances are rendered dignified and imposing by massive columns and large porches which lead into the main hallway of the building.”
There is a quote, “Let no one weep for me, or celebrate my funeral with mourning; for I still live, as I pass to and fro through the mouths of men.” The outpouring of memories wrought from last week’s tragic burning of the courthouse has shown that grief, in its many forms, can help a community rebuild what has been lost in the physical with the collective energy of memory. While the courthouse was the guardian of the lives and events of Mason County; its joys and sorrows, tears and smiles, deaths and births, marriages and celebrations, protector and reminder of our right to vote and honor guard for our veterans; it was made so by the appointment of those individuals who have filled it with their memories. In listening to a great many conversations this past week about the event; the stories of how those memories came about let us know that although the structure is gone; the memories are still held in great reverence.
In speaking to Fran Hoerster of Mason County Historical Commission; the history of the Mason County Courthouse is , indeed, not stagnate. The first courthouse was constructed in 1872 and was destroyed by fire in 1877. It was replaced that year by the second courthouse. A note recorded in March 1909; after a protracted jury trial; stated “the crowded and foul condition of the courthouse and the inconvenience in which the jurors were subjected are certainly strong arguments in favor of a new courthouse. Anyone who was present knows the truth of this,” followed by a reminder to vote on Saturday. And so, the third courthouse was built.
Lisa Hooten Ziriax was one of the first to post an uplifting photo taken on the courthouse lawn, after the recent fire. It includes two of her granddaughters and great niece, skipping across the courthouse lawn holding hands. The photo was taken by Julie Ziriax in 2018. It was during the “Light Up Our Town” celebration and the children were going to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. After visiting Santa, they followed the luminarias to the Seaquist House and as Lisa stated, “So fun and wonderful. What a wonderful day!”
Susan Grote, a lifelong resident of Mason remembers that one of the most important memories she has of the courthouse as a child was that each time her parents had business to conduct at the courthouse or the bank across the street, her mother and daddy would let them run on the stone walls surrounding the courthouse. “It provided years of fun” Susan recalls,” and we used to dance around the courthouse every time we won a game.” Kaycee Tatsch Ingleby and her husband, Jeff were married on May 25, 2007 in the courthouse. It was not the original plan as Kaycee explains. “Jeff was active-duty military and we had planned a traditional wedding. Jeff found out he was to be deployed in four days; it was Memorial Day weekend, and it was raining cats and dogs. We were going to be married on the steps of the courthouse, but we had to be married in the courtroom because of the rain. We stood at the Judge’s bench and were married by a Justice of the Peace. My Dad fell asleep during the ceremony; he worked for CTEC and had been working overtime, restoring power because of the rain.” She continues, “We only had parents and a few friends. It was less than what we planned but it ended up being perfect. The Courthouse was there for us. Our kids say their parents got married in a castle. It provided stability.”
Retired airline pilot, Capt. Anthony Oehler of Fredericksburg, Texas recounted that the only speeding ticket he has ever gotten was in Mason, Texas. As he tells me,” I flew out of San Angelo and always drove through Mason.” In 1984; the speed limit was 55 and Capt. Oehler said he was driving 70 when Highway Patrolman Ben Walker of Mason pulled him over. He asked Capt. Oehler if he had a reason for speeding and Capt. Oehler told him “I’m trying to get back to Gillespie County in time to vote.” Apparently, Walker was unimpressed with that excuse and wrote the ticket. A few days later, Capt. Oehler decided he should stop in Mason on his way back to San Angelo for his flight. “I walked into the courthouse in Mason and asked a lady at the desk if she could tell me where I should pay a speeding ticket. She told me to see Judge (Lansing) Kothmann. He’s upstairs. ” He said, “I handed the Judge my ticket. The Judge asked me if I had a reason for speeding after looking at the ticket.” Capt. Oehler went on to explain to the Judge that he was trying to get home to Fredericksburg in time to vote for Ronald Reagan before the polls closed. He said the Judge looked at his ticket and looked back up at him and said, “that sounds like a good idea to me; how about $30.00?”
All the memories of Mason’s courthouse were not kept within her walls; they are in the voices, hearts and minds of those who have passed them on, who still keep them alive and who will make them in the future. Instead of thinking of the site as a skeleton or shell; perhaps in time, we will look to the foundation that remains as a place to begin to rebuild again ; creating new memories while keeping the ones of the past alive. In a most appropriate quote from a poet on architecture; Simon Barraclough, 2008, we find these words: “Five centuries ago, A German acorn sweetened on the branch until it reached its crucial mass and blew the bolts to give itself to gravity. Then all it had to do was dodge the jay’s keen beak, the hedgehog’s truffling snout, shrug off the weevil’s drill. This lucky nut was squirreled away, a hedge fund for a hungrier day that never came and planted in the soil, the work began: the cylinder of the shell unscrewed, a taproot dropped, a pale shoot periscoped towards the light, extended leaves and rippled out its rings, trunk thickening as history hurtled by. Six thousand moons the shadow of the branches flew around its base through midnight, noon, until the day that brought the saw that bit into the bark and turned the tree into an acre of veneer to line this room…”
The Courthouse was a part of who Mason is and it evoked a sense of solidarity. The symbolism of it cannot be taken away. While it may take some time for a new building to take shape; in due course, it will blend into the memories that already exist.
