| Cooke County Courthouse | |
| Location: | 101 S Dixon St, Gainesville, Texas |
| Coordinates: | 33.6236°N -97.1456°W |
| Architecture: | École des Beaux-Arts |
| Added: | March 22, 1991 |
| Refnum: | 91000336 |
| Architect: | Lang & Witchell |
The Cooke County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Gainesville, Texas. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
The courthouse was designed by Lang & Witchell, and was constructed in 1912.[2] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, and designated a Texas Historic Landmark in 1988.[3]
On the lawn of the courthouse stands a monolith topped by a 1911 statue of a Confederate soldier. The inscription at the base of the statue reads, “no nation rose so white and fair none fell so pure of crime” in reference to the Southern cause.[4] In 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the removal of Confederate statues across the United States, Cooke County Commissioners voted to retain the statue outside the courthouse.[5] [6] Protesters advocating against the statue were later sentenced to prison time for "obstructing a highway".[7] The protesters petitioned their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, who in 2024 declined to review the case.[8]