Loving County Courthouse

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

From the record

“The Loving County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Mentone, Texas. The courthouse, the first permanent one in the county, was built in 1935, replacing a temporary courthouse built in 1931.”
Wikipedia article Loving County Courthouse, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 1 National Register listings published here for Loving County · listed in 2006 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building, 1 object as contributing to the listing.
Address. Bounded by Pecos St., Collins St., Dallas St., and TX 302, Mentone, 79754
When was it listed? May 2006
Category. building
Census division. Mentone
Architectural style. Moderne architecture, Streamline Moderne
Architect. Evan J. Wood
National Register reference number. 06000362 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

1 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Loving County Courthouse in 2015, burning about 3 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
11 April 2015	Power generation/transmission/distribution	3.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	CR300

Every fire recorded in Loving County

Storms near this property

54 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mentone, the town this property stands in, in 54 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 35 hail, 8 flash flood, 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado. The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Mentone	3 hurt, $500,000	Destructive winds estimated to be 80 mph affected portions of Loving County. Twenty-six power poles were blown down along a five mile stretch of Highway 302 west of the Loving and Winkler County line. This resulted in widespread power outages. Three oil field workers were injured when their trailers were destroyed by the winds.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Mentone	$480,000	A thunderstorm moved across Loving County and produced wind damage. There were 30 power poles that were broken and blown down seven miles north of Mentone. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
April 1999	Tornado (F2)	Mentone	$20,000	The Reeves County tornado crossed the Pecos River and headed north across open country. Soon after it crossed the river, the tornado hit some oil field supplies and caused some damage. The only oil pumpjack in the path was overturned. Engineers at a pumpjack manufacturer estimated winds in the range of 110-130 mph to knock over this large piece of equipment. Vegetation mainly consisted of brush less than 4 feet tall with disturbances ranging from snapped or flattened to bent more than 45 degrees. The small foliage on these plants was generally still present, but wind-torn.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Mentone	$12,000	A thunderstorm in Claudette's outer convective band resulted in damaging winds near Mentone. A porch was blown off of a mobile home, and a power pole was blown down.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Mentone	$5,000	Severe thunderstorm winds blew the roof off of a large barn northeast of Mentone.
September 2014	Flash Flood	Mentone	$2,000	Heavy rain moved across Loving County and produced flash flooding in Mentone. Eight to ten men were stranded on oil field equipment due to high water in town. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
October 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Mentone	$2,000	Downbursting winds knocked down two utility poles in Mentone.
September 2014	Flash Flood	Mentone	$1,000	Heavy rain fell across Loving County and produced flash flooding in Mentone and along the Pecos River. State Highway 302 was reported to be closed in Loving County. The Pecos River was reported to be flooded 16 inches deep over State Highway 302 a half a mile on either side of the river near Mentone. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
September 2014	Flash Flood	Mentone	$500	Heavy rain fell across Loving County and produced flash flooding near Mentone. There was water flowing eight inches over State Highway 302. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
September 2014	Flash Flood	Mentone	$300	Heavy rain fell across Loving County and produced flash flooding. An oil tanker was reported to be stranded on Farm to Market Road 300. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
April 2025	Hail	Mentone	-	Quarter-sized hail reported on State Highway 302 per spotter network. Time is estimated from radar.
June 2025	Hail	Mentone	-	Quarter-size hail was reported by the public in rural Loving County. The time of occurrence is estimated from radar.
May 2024	Hail	Mentone	-	Lots of hail on the ground, and some may be larger. Picture from public Facebook photo.
July 2023	Hail	Mentone	-	A trained spotter observed quarter to half dollar size hail in Mentone.
March 2020	Tornado (EFU)	Mentone	-	A thunderstorm in Reeves County produced a tornado about eight miles west of Mentone. A National Weather Service survey team was unable to locate damage directly caused by the tornado due to poor road networks. Photos provided by the public and emergency management suggested that the tornado was significant, however due to a lack of damage indicators, the survey team was unable to determine a path and intensity. Thus, the tornado was rated an EF-U. It was estimated that the tornado traveled roughly 12 miles before lifting from storm spotter reports and radar signatures. The tornado started in Reeves County and moved east into Loving County. It lifted before reaching Highway 302 and moved just north of Mentone.
April 2012	Hail	Mentone	-	A storm moved over Loving County and produced three to four inch hail six miles east of Orla. Wind gusts were up to 70 to 75 mph.
April 2012	Hail	Mentone	-	A thunderstorm moved over Loving County and produced four inch hail and wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph two miles west of Mentone.
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Mentone	-	No damage was reported.
March 2007	Hail	Mentone	-	Marble to golfball size hail fell northwest of Mentone.
June 2007	Tornado (EF0)	Mentone	-	A tornado formed over open country north of Mentone. No damage occurred.
March 2005	Hail	Mentone	-	At 18:53 CST, the Loving County Emergency Manager reported half dollar size hail in Mentone. The swath of large hail and its parent severe thunderstorm continued east across southern Loving County. By 19:30 CST, local officials reported penny size hail that covered Interstate 20 fifteen miles east-northeast of Mentone. The accumulating hail resulted in slick driving conditions along the interstate.
June 2005	Hail	Mentone	-	A rancher in northern Loving County reported very large hail ranging in size from golfballs to tennis balls along Farm to Market Road 652.
June 2005	Hail	Mentone	-	A left-moving supercell produced large hail along a swath from Mentone to near the Texas and New Mexico border in northern Loving County. Initial reports indicated penny size hail in Mentone and just east of the city along Texas Highway 302. A rancher reported golfball size hail fell in rural areas of the county before the storm moved over the state line. No damage was reported.
August 2005	Flash Flood	Mentone	-	A National Weather Service trained spotter reported water flowing over portions of Farm to Market Road 652 in northern Loving County. The public also reported high water threatening homes on the Loving County, Texas/Lea County, New Mexico county line.
June 2005	Hail	Mentone	-	Penny size hail was reported by the public along Farm to Market Road 652 north of Mentone.
June 2005	Hail	Mentone	-	The public reported nickel size hail just east of Red Bluff Lake.
September 2004	Flash Flood	Mentone	-	Several public reports indicated flash flooding across western Loving County. At 11:00 CST, at least one foot of water was reported flowing over Farm to Market Road 652 in the northwestern parts of the county. Additional flooding was reported at 11:45 CST along County Road 300 one mile north of Mentone, where flowing water up to one foot deep crossed the road.
October 2004	Hail	Mentone	-	A storm spotter in Mentone reported penny to nickel size hail.
October 2004	Hail	Mentone	-	A storm spotter reported pea to penny size hail northwest of Mentone.
June 2000	Flash Flood	Mentone	-	The general public reported water over the road on State Highway 302 east of Mentone.
May 1999	Tornado (F0)	Mentone	-	Brief tornado in open country north of Mentone.
May 1999	Hail	Mentone	-	Vegetation stripped along State Highway 302.
May 2021	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 2021	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
March 2019	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
June 2019	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
June 2019	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 2018	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
April 2015	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 2015	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
October 2015	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
June 2013	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 2010	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
July 2009	Flash Flood	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
April 2002	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
April 2002	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
September 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 1999	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 1999	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed
May 1994	Hail	Mentone	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Loving County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 06000362 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Loving County	All 1 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.