Texas History Notebook

Lang & Witchell Courthouses

The architectural firm was founded by Otto Lang and Frank Witchell. Otto Lang was born in Germany in 1864. He came to the United States in 1888 on a wedding trip and decided to stay in Dallas. For a couple of years, he worked for local architects who did work for Texas and Pacific Railway. One of the buildings he designed there was the Texas and Pacific depot in Fort Worth followed by the depots in Wichita Falls, Amarillo, Paris and Weatherford. Lang formed his partnership with Frank Witchell in 1905.

Frank Witchell was born in the south of Wales in England in 1879. He came to the United States with his parents when he was 2 years old and lived in San Antonio where he attended public schools. He had no formal educational training in architecture, but apprenticed in the profession when he was 14 years old. In 1898, he began working with the Dallas firm of Sanguinet and Staats as a designer and draftsman until he joined the newly created partnership with Otto Lang in 1905.

Their partnership was in existence for about 37 years. They designed numerous commercial and residential buildings in Dallas and other towns, including courthouses in Texas. Some of their commercial structures in Dallas are listed below. Other Lang and Witchell Buildings include the Raleigh Hotel in Waco.

The firm dissolved after about 37 years upon Lang’s retirement.

Courthouses in Texas Designed by Lang & Witchell

The firm designed seven courthouses that were completed in Texas between the years of 1909 and 1928. Five are still standing, although the exterior of one (Scurry County) has been enveloped by new construction.

Cooke County (1911) This structure was the county’s fourth courthouse and sits at the corner of Main and Commerce streets. The style is called Beaux-Arts. It is still in use in Gainesville, Texas.

Image credit: http://www.eastlandcountytexas.com

Eastland County (1928) This building was the county’s fourth courthouse and is located at the intersection of Commerce and Lamar. Its architectural style is called Moderne-Art Deco. Christy-Dolph Construction Co. of Dallas was named as the contractor and the initial cost mentioned was $300,000. The structure is still in use in Eastland, Texas.

Harris County (1910) This structure served as the county’s fifth (of six) courthouses. It was in use as such for many years until a more modern structure was completed in 1953. It is currently still in use in Harris County as the county Civil Court building. It is also of the Beaux-Arts style. It sits at the corner of Preston and Caroline streets in Houston, Texas.

Image credit: http://www.texashistory.unt.edu

Howard County (1908) This building was the earliest known completed courthouse of the firm and was the second of three county courthouses. It was demolished in favor of a 1950s era structure.

Johnson County (1913) This building is off the Classical Revival style. It sits at the intersection of Main and Henderson streets in Cleburne, Texas.

Image credit: http://www.courthousehistory.com

Nacogdoches County (1911) This structure was the fourth of five county courthouses and served until it was demolished in favor of a more modern 1950s building. The building’s features included a three story structure of reinforced concrete with a basement. It was clad in brick and stone and at a cost of $65,000. It originally housed courtrooms, offices and a jail. It was located at the intersection of North and Main streets between what was then the business district and the depot.

Image credit: http://www.lubbockonline.com

Scurry County (1909) This was the building as it looked after 1911. It was in the Classical Revival style and it sat at the corner of 25th Street and College Avenue in Snyder, Texas. The tower was removed and the entire structure was reclad in granite in the early 1970s.

In addition, the firm designed many other buildings around the state. Their offices were in Dallas, and many buildings were designed for the firm in Dallas County. Some of them are noted below:

Commercial & Institutional Buildings in Dallas

Sanger Brothers Building (now El Centro College) – A Chicago School / Sullivanesque commercial building in the West End, originally a flagship department store for the Sanger Brothers mercantile business. The structure was completed in 1910.
Chevrolet Motor Company Building – A 1923 industrial/commercial structure in Deep Ellum, noted for its concrete-and-brick design.
Higginbotham-Bailey Building – A Renaissance Revival/Chicago school warehouse/office building in downtown Dallas in what was then known as the garment district. The western section of the building was completed in 1914 and additions were added in 1917 and 1923.
Lone Star Gas Company / Dallas Gas Company Buildings (part of LSG Lofts) – Early Art Deco industrial and office buildings in downtown Dallas that have since been adapted (Lone Star Gas is a 13-story landmark structure). Construction dates begin in 1924 and 1931 with major renovations and additions decades later.
Western Union Telegraph Company Building (originally the Masonic Blue Lodge Temple) – Completed in 1913, it later housed Western Union. The first and second stories were for business purposes and the remainder was for Masonic lodge activities.
The Sears building on Lamar Street in Dallas — originally the Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalogue Merchandise Center (now known as Southside on Lamar) — was completed in 1913 with full occupancy being available in 1914. It was unique in many ways, including having a railway siding that ran through the building. It was a reinforced concrete building believed to be clad in local sourced brick. Architectural details include references to a blending of Prairie Style and Sullivanesque features.
Dallas High School (also known as Central High / Crozier Tech) – A Classical Revival school building completed around 1907.
Dallas County Records Building (originally known as the Hall of Records) was completed in 1927 and 1928 to house county records, offices and courtrooms. Its architectural style is said to be Gothic Revival.

Civic / Fair Park Works in Dallas

Highland Park Town Hall – A Spanish Colonial Revival-style civic building constructed in 1923 for Highland Park.
Fair Park Parry Avenue Entrance & Grand Plaza (and related Fair Park Auditorium facades) – includes Spanish Colonial Revival and monumental fairgrounds elements as part of Fair Park’s development.
State Fair Music Hall – Opened in 1924 and also said to be of the Spanish Colonial Revival style.

Buildings No Longer Standing

Dallas Cotton Exchange Building – A 17-story downtown office building, completed around 1926 and demolished in 1994.
Southwestern Life Insurance Building – A 16-story early skyscraper completed around 1912 and demolished in 1972.
Downtown Y.M.C.A Building – No longer standing. Completed in 1906

Residential & Other Architectural Work

Lang & Witchell also designed numerous residences and homes in Dallas and nearby Highland Park—including houses in Highland Park and on Swiss Avenue of many styles including Prairie and English style homes. The firm also customized estate houses from the 1900s through the 1920s.

Buildings outside Dallas County

A partial listing of buildings outside Dallas County would include the following: San Angelo Telephone Company Building (San Angelo, Texas), Raleigh Hotel (Waco, Texas), First National Bank Building (McGregor, Texas), Hotel Grace (Abilene, Texas), Union Depot (Wichita Falls, Texas), First Baptist Church (Paris, Texas), Y.W.C.A. Building (El Paso, Texas) and others.

Lost Padre Mine

Paraphrasing Robert Louis Stevenson, there is something in a treasure that attaches itself to a man’s mind and won’t let it go. One of the persisting legends in West Texas is that of the Lost Padre Mine, or “La Mina del Padre.” Possible locations include southern New Mexico and the area around El Paso, Texas.

Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim

Lonnie Alford “Bo” Pilgrim was born May 8, 1928 six miles south of Pittsburg, Camp County, Texas to Alonzo Monroe Pilgrim and Nettie Gertrude Gunn Pilgrim. Lonnie was the fourth of seven children born to the couple. The nickname of “Bo” was given to him when he was a boy and he went by it for the rest of his life.

He grew up near Pittsburg where his father was a merchant, operating one of the only two stores in Pine, the small community where they lived. Alonzo died in 1939 and for a time, his mother ran the store. In 1946 Bo’s brother Aubrey along with a partner named Pat Johns bought a small feed mill from W. W. Weems in Pittsburg for $3,500 and invited Bo to join them. Aubrey was in his early twenties and Bo was about eighteen years old at the time. Bo began his long career by driving the feed store truck. His rate of pay was 50 cents an hour. Mr. Johns is likely a reference to a somewhat older Thomas Jeffie “Pat” Johns also of Pine, who is believed to have sold his interest in the business early on. As the company grew, its headquarters remained in Pittsburg for a long time. The grain elevator/feed store facility is still there and has operated from time to time as part of the Pilgrim enterprises.

Dr. Charles W. Graham

Charles Wesley Graham was born on July 13, 1932 in Thorndale, Milam County, Texas to John Wesley Graham and Iva Lee Clark Graham. He was the oldest of three children born to the couple. Dr. Graham was among the fourth generation in the Graham family to have been born in Texas. As a youth, he showed livestock though FFA and 4-H. He attended Wharton Jr. College and later earned his undergraduate degrees in animal husbandry and animal science from Texas A&M (Class of 1953). After serving in the United States Army and working at a summer job for a veterinarian in Elgin, he returned to Texas A&M where he earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in May, 1961, graduating with honors.

Dr. Graham became well known in the industry for his work in equine medicine. He settled in Elgin, on the border of Travis and Bastrop counties, where he was a co-founder along with Dr. Wallace H. Cardwell (also an A&M veterinary school graduate) to organize the Elgin Veterinary Hospital which specialized in large animal medicine, bovine and equine. At the time, it was the largest facility of its kind in Texas. Dr. Graham became sought after for his experience in breeding as well. Soon, he as able to establish the business known as Southwest Stallion Station, also located in Elgin. One of the early successes of Southwest Stallion Station was a race horse named Three Ohs, Ruidoso Downs’ winning horse from 1968 which helped to establish the reputation of the facility. His other business interests included Graham Land and Cattle Co., a Gonzales County feed lot for cattle, and an interest in Heritage Place Sale Company, a sales facility for horses, in Oklahoma City.

He was a speaker at quarter horse meetings on various subjects including chronic lameness, mosquito-borne equine encephalomyelitis, etc. Dr. Graham was involved in the American Quarter Horse Association, American Association of Equine Practitioners, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas Horsemen’s Partnership, Texas Horseracing Association, Texas Veterinary Medical Association, Texas Quarter Horse Association, Texas Thoroughbred Association and many others. He served as an officer of many of these organizations.

He had a keen interest in racing and was known for having bred dozens of winners and starting horses for his own account, as well as for other owners. He is known to have promoted the racing business to various elected officials back in the 1970s when Texas was considering the allowance of pari-mutuel horse racing. Biographies also note that he served on the AQHA’s Equine Research Committee and found time to be an adjunct professor at Texas A&M’s veterinary college. He was also actively involved in the development of youth programs and was interested in performance and ranch horses. He also served as race track veterinarian from time to time. His co-owned Southwest Stallion Station handled the breeding of horses from well known bloodlines, such as the son of famed racing horse Secretariat. Dr. Graham was also an owner in the syndicate for that horse.

His many honors include being inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame, the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. Texas A&M has honored him in many ways. In 2016 he was named as a Texas A&M Distinguished Alumnus. In 2013, he received the Texas A&M AgriLife Distinguished Texas in Agriculture Award. In 2010, he was named an Outstanding Alumnus by the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and in 1991 he received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. In addition, the Charles W. “Doc” Graham ’53 DVM, The Texas A&M University System Center on the West Texas A&M University campus in Canyon, Texas was named for him. Austin’s Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo offices are named for him.

He was personally known for being an early riser and typically was at his office before sunrise each work day. Articles also mention his strong work ethic. He was quoted as saying “My dream was to own a horse facility and be in the stud business. If I was going to succeed, I figured I’d have to impress them with my work.” he said. “I thought it was possible, because I didn’t know a person who could outwork me.” He was proud of his association with Texas A&M and wore his Aggie ring every day.

In 1956, he was married to the former Nancy Ellen Smith who predeceased him in 2017. The couple had three children. Dr. Graham passed away on June 21, 2025, at the age of 92 in his home in Elgin, Texas, after suffering with cancer.

Visitation was held at Providence-Jones Family Funeral home in Elgin and a celebration of life service was held at the Travis County Exposition Center’s Luedecke Arena in Austin. Memorial contributions were directed to Race Track Chaplaincy of America, South Texas Council.

Sources include various newspaper articles, https://www.findfarmcredit.com/landscapes-articles/tall-in-the-saddle, https://www.providencejonesfuneralhome.com/obituaries/charles-graham, https://www.aqha.com/-/dr.-charles-graham, and others.

Ricky Nelson

Eric Hillard “Ricky” Nelson was born on May 8, 1940 in Teaneck, New Jersey to Oswald George “Ozzie” Nelson and Peggy Louise “Harriet” Snyder Nelson. Ricky was their youngest child, about four years younger than his brother David Oswald Nelson. Ricky and six other individuals died in an aircraft accident near DeKalb, Texas on December 31, 1985. The aircraft was on its way to Dallas for a performance which had been scheduled for that evening.