Delta County Courthouse

Delta County Courthouse
Delta County Courthouse in 2015
Location within the greater Cooper area
General information
Architectural style	Modern Movement, Art Deco
Town or city	200 W. Dallas Ave., Cooper, Texas
Country	United States
Coordinates	33°22′26.9″N 95°41′23.3″W / 33.374139°N 95.689806°W / 33.374139; -95.689806Coordinates: 33°22′26.9″N 95°41′23.3″W / 33.374139°N 95.689806°W / 33.374139; -95.689806
Construction started	1940
Completed	1941
Cost	$110,450
Client	Delta County
Design and construction
Architect	Hook Smith (Jun. 12, 1896 - Feb. 5, 1943) of Dallas

The Delta County Courthouse is a historic, three-story courthouse building in the city of Cooper, in Delta County, Texas, United States. The building is located at 200 West Dallas Avenue, and functions as the meeting place for the county government. The building also houses all of the county records. The county's first courthouse was built in 1873, in Cooper. A courthouse was built to replace the original in 1898. After the Great Depression, the new courthouse was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), helping the community to grow. The building has remained virtually unchanged since.

During the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1868, the delegates paid attention to northeastern portion of the state, especially the increasing need for the creation of new counties in the region. At the time, there were a total of twenty counties located in the region, compared to twenty-three presently. The convention originally met to write a new state constitution, but members quickly tried to shift the focus to other issues. During the convention, the Committee on Counties and County Boundaries presented proposals for the creation of three new counties in the region. They were to be called Delta, Webster, and Richland. Delta County was established on July 29, 1870, by the Twelfth State Legislature. The proposals for Webster and Richland counties, however, were not passed.

After Delta County was established, it held its first election on October 6, 1870. The first five members of the county commissioners board were chosen in the election. Cooper was established as the county seat for the newly formed county. However, a courthouse was not established for the county government until 1873. Constructed in the county seat, the courthouse was built in the town square. Confederate and Union veterans of the Civil War planted pecan trees on the square around the courthouse, to symbolize the end of conflict. The building, which was two stories tall, was designed by architects R.C. Andrews and E. Blackwell, for a price of approximately $6000 (equivalent to $120,000 in 2017).

In 1898, the newly incorporated city of Cooper passed a $40,000 bond (equivalent to $1,151,500 in 2017) to begin construction of a new, three-story brick courthouse. While construction of the new courthouse was underway, the original courthouse was destroyed in a fire. Construction of the second courthouse was completed in 1900.