Wiley G. Clarkson, Architect

Corsicana:  June 1908 to Dec. 1911

Fort Worth: Jan. 1912 to May 5, 1952

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Archer County, Texas

Archer County Court House

Archer City, Texas

Shelf 3 Job 359

The original Archer County Court House (shown below the present courthouse photo) was a two story building with a tall central tower.  In 1926, Clarkson was retained to add a third floor for offices to the court house.  The amount of money he lists in his professional record covering the years 1925 to 1947 as being the cost of the project is $80,000.00.  The tower was removed, the third floor added, and a different roof added.  He assigned the design work to an employee who was a designer/architect named Elmer G. Withers.  In 1928, Withers resigned from Clarkson's firm and established his own architectural firm in Fort Worth.  Several of Fort Worth's future fine architects had their start working for my grandfather.  The state of Texas Historic web site shows Withers as the architect without giving proper credit to Clarkson, even though they have been supplied the paperwork showing otherwise.

The 1892 Archer County Court House

 

Residence

S. M. Cowan

Box 1 Job 246

This house was somewhat difficult to locate, but once a location was known, it had man design characteristics of Clarkson homes during the time of 1915 to 1925.  The Archer City Hall secretary confirmed that this house was the home of her grandmother, who was married to Samuel Cowan Sr, who passed away in 1917.  The home has been in the Cowan family since construction.  S. M. Cowan Sr. was a very successful cattleman.  The owner told me that his son, Samuel M. Cowan Jr., also built a home in Archer at a later date and was believed to have used an architect from Fort Worth.  The 2nd home would be one of the projects lost when Clarksons records were destroyed after his death.