Eastland County

The Eastland County courthouse was constructed of stone in 1928 in Art-Deco style, designed by the Firm of Lang & Witchell and built at a cost of $313,000. In the process of building this new courthouse, the old 1897 courthouse had to be torn down and as a result when the courthouse cornerstone was opened, a horned frog that was put inside years before came out. The horned frog was entombed within the walls to see if it could live without food, water or air, opened its eyes and came back to life. It came be known as “Old Rip” named after Rip Van Winkle. The horned frog’s final resting-place is in a casket inside the present day courthouse.