Bee County Courthouse - Beeville, TX - Courthouses on Waymarking.com

Bee County has had three courthouses: 1861, 1879 and 1912

The Present Bee County Courthouse was built in 1912 in the Beaux-Arts design by architectures Whitney and Heldenfelds. The "Goddess of Justice" located at the top of the dome was designed by William Charles Stephenson, Jr

Beeville's 1912 Courthouse has most of the accessories you look for in a courthouse - A clock, dome, statue of the Goddess of Justice and large Corinthian columns.

Built in 1912, this Beaux-Arts structure was designed by Whitney & Heldenfelds. The statue of lady justice on the top of the dome does not have a blindfold, supposedly because county fathers said that she could probably do a whole lot better if she could see what she was doing. I believe that it, along with a few other Beaux-Arts courthouses in Texas, is one of the nation's best Beaux-Arts courthouses.

A little about the restoration of the "Goddess of Justice" done in 2001

The sculpture was removed from the dome of the Courthouse and transported to Dallas, Texas, where John Dennis, of the Dallas Museum of Art, restored her. The "pre-restoration" pictures were taken at their shop in February 2001 and she was completed by July 2001.

The "Enlightened Justice", as Mr. Stephenson himself called her was a work that he was very proud of. In a Corpus Christi Caller-Times article by Travis Moorman published in about 1953, he was asked to reminisce on the work. He had this to say:

"..(She) represents an "enlightened Justice - a representation of what Justice should be."

The article further says:
"Now the blindfold on the usual justice is a fine theoretical way of representing impartiality in meting out justice. But, from a practical standpoint, Stephenson thinks the lady should have both eyes open to see who might be trying to tip her scales one way or the other. The Bee County figure of Justice carries no scales. In the right hand is the torch of knowledge and in her left, a staff with the "scroll of records" attached to it..."

"Stephenson said he made the clay model for the statue here in Beeville (note by Paul Gerdes - 1708 North Madison, now razed) and sent it to St. Louis where it was cast in copper (note by Paul Gerdes; the statue is actually made from zinc - and was painted with a coating that resembled copper at the time, or nearly as it appears today. I don't think he ever knew it was made of zinc and not copper). The company that completed the figure asked and got Stephenson's permission to make copies of his work. There may be other "Stephenson Justices" scattered about the country, but he never took the time to check and see where they were placed."

Year Built: 1912 Current Use of Building: County Courts Level of Courts: County Architect: Whitney and Heldenfelds Dates this building was used to house judicial proceedings: 1912 - present Physical Address: 105 W. Corpus Christi, Beeville, Texas 78102 Related Website: [Web Link] Hours: Not listed

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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   12/31/2017 Saxo-fun visited it 06/21/2016 WalksfarTX visited it 12/15/2009 WTT-B2 visited it

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