A Public Windmill Once Held the Center of Snyder's Courthouse Square

Scurry County was created in 1876 and organized in 1884. Local landholders donated lots in the center of Snyder for a courthouse square, and local citizens bought the construction bonds. A two-story courthouse of locally made red brick went up on the northeast corner in 1886.

The 1886 courthouse stood on a former buffalo trail. Board sidewalks led to it, and a corridor connected it to a jail farther northeast. A chain hitching rail enclosed the square so horses had a place beside county business. The center belonged to a public windmill, which became a focus for civic and social gatherings. The commissioners also used the north, east, south, and west lanes approaching the courthouse to draw the county's four precinct boundaries. The 1967 marker recorded that those boundaries were still in use.

The present courthouse was erected from 1909 to 1911. The 1886 building was razed in 1911, after the new one was standing. A 1950 remodeling removed the courthouse dome, and part of the old square was paved for cars.

The furniture changed from windmill and hitching rail to parking, but county life kept returning to the same square. College and 25th still carry the shape of a civic center built before the automobile.