Courthouse Square Men's Restroom - Glen Rose Downtown Historic District - Glen Rose, TX - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

Although they're not able to document it, the two restrooms are probably the work of the WPA, and the National Register's Registration Form provides some good reading:

The men's restroom on the northern corner of the grounds of the Somervell County Courthouse consists of a historic stone structure to which a low-pitched wooden roof later was added. As constructed, the restroom consists of ashlar local limestone masonry and measures 11 x 16 feet. The corners have smoothed edges. The building has two openings for fixed windows on the two longer sides and one opening for a fixed window on the rear, all of the openings measuring 2 feet 4 inches by 2 feet 8 inches and all of them currently closed with plywood. A single doorway facing south opens into the front entry. Above each of the window openings and the doorway are concrete lintels. The original roof was flat concrete. The interior treatment is concrete that shows the imprint of individual boards that comprised the forms at the time of construction. By the 1980s a low-pitched wooden roof with metal covering was added atop the structural flat roof of the building. The wooden trim on the roof is painted a cream color, while the metal roofing is a brown color.

During all of its early years, the Somervell County Courthouse had no indoor toilets. Instead wooden privies stood on the courthouse grounds. Repeatedly these dry closets were the subject of complaint for disrepair and unsanitary conditions. Eventually in 1909 a restroom with flush toilet for men was added inside the office of the County Clerk. Then the current facility was built three-quarters of a century ago as one of two public restrooms in free-standing buildings on two corners of the courthouse square. The stonework in the present Men's Restroom and that in the similar Women's Restroom matches that in the 1934 Somervell County Jail. Although the County Commissioners' Court minutes do not mention the present-day restroom buildings until after their completion in 1934, their construction clearly was associated with that of the 1934 County Jail. By the 1980s a low-pitched gable roof was added to the Men's Restroom.

Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Glen Rose Downtown Historic District Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link] Address: 101 NE Barnard St, Glen Rose, TX 76043 How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Narrative found on the internet (Link provided below) Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link] NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/14/2020 WalksfarTX visited it