Thomas Lovell (May 5, 1852 – September 8, 1911), commonly known as Tom Lovell, was a Scottish-born American builder and general contractor. Lovell and the contracting firms he headed constructed eleven Texas county courthouses, along with post offices, federal buildings, county jails, and the territorial capitol in Phoenix, now the Arizona State Capitol. Several buildings constructed by Lovell are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or designated as Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks.

Early life and family

Lovell was born in West Kilbride, Scotland, in 1852. He married Theresa Begley in County Armagh, Ireland, in 1877 and immigrated to the United States in 1882. He initially settled in Brownwood, Texas, and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1891.

Lovell moved to Denton, Texas, around 1895, where he built a house at 1606 West Oak Street. His first wife, Theresa, died that year. In 1896, he built the Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square and married Seddie Thurmond, a Missouri widow. Lovell and Thurmond later platted land behind their home and renamed part of Lovell Street as Normal Street, in honor of early faculty members of the North Texas Normal College, now the University of North Texas.

Among Lovell's children were daughters Mary, Anne, and Ellen. Mary married contractor Patrick Joseph Lenahan, who built the Magnolia Building in Dallas. She taught at Bryan High School and later worked as a student conduct administrator at the University of Colorado. Anne married Dallas physician and surgeon William Worthington Samuell. Ellen was educated at Southern Methodist University and Columbia University and directed the Public Relations Division of the National Tuberculosis Association from May 1944 to April 1959.

Career

Lovell operated as a building contractor, sometimes under the names T. Lovell and Company and Tom Lovell & Sons. A 2017 KWTX historical feature credited Lovell with eleven Texas courthouses, five post offices, two federal buildings, and four county jails. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Lovell and his firms expanded beyond Texas county construction into federal work across the western United States, including post offices and federal buildings in Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.

Arizona State Capitol

Among Lovell's major commissions was the construction of the territorial capitol building in Phoenix, Arizona, now the Arizona State Capitol. Designed by James Riely Gordon, the plans were reduced from Gordon's original proposal because of funding constraints, and the building was completed by Lovell in 1900. Contemporary Arizona coverage reported that Lovell "never permitted the work to drag" and that the completed structure contained no defective work.

The Arizona State Capitol Museum later distinguished between the Capitol Commission's total expenditures of $135,774.29 and Lovell's construction contract, stating that Lovell received $117,290 for labor and materials, while the remainder covered administrative expenses and furnishings not included in the construction contract. The same account noted that the territorial press regarded the commission and Lovell as having provided the Territory with "a bargain" for a building worth considerably more.

U.S. Post Office and Federal Building, Port Arthur

In 1910, Tom Lovell & Sons was awarded the construction contract for the U.S. Post Office and Federal Building in Port Arthur, Texas. Designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department while James Knox Taylor served as Supervising Architect, the Classical Revival building was completed in 1911.

Constructed during Port Arthur's emergence as a major Gulf seaport, the building was intended as a conspicuous expression of the city's growing commercial importance. From 1912, it housed not only the post office but also federal customs, immigration, quarantine, agricultural, public-health, military-recruiting, and weather services. During the hurricane of 1915, the building sheltered more than 100 people for 30 hours after they fled there for protection.

In 1935, the firm was again awarded the construction contract, this time for a major expansion completed in 1937. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Selected works

The following table lists selected buildings constructed by Lovell or firms with which he was associated.

Building Location Date Role Architect or designer Brown County Courthouse Brownwood, Texas 1884 Builder, Thomas Lovell Dodson & Dudley Lampasas County Courthouse Lampasas, Texas 1884 Stone contractor, T. Lovell and Company W.C. Dodson Hamilton County Courthouse Hamilton, Texas 1886 Contractor, Lovell, Hood and McLeod William Martin Brewster County Courthouse Alpine, Texas 1887 Builder Not identified Williamson County Jail Georgetown, Texas 1888 Contractor, Lovell & Miller Dodson & Dudley Runnels County Courthouse Ballinger, Texas 1889 Contractor Eugene T. Heiner Lovell–Dobbs House Brownwood, Texas 1889 Builder — Hill County Courthouse Hillsboro, Texas 1890 Contractor W.C. Dodson Childress County Courthouse Childress, Texas 1891 Contractors, Lovell, Miller & Hood William Douglas St. John's Episcopal Church Brownwood, Texas 1892 Contractor, with William Hood Not identified (plans donated anonymously) Hill County Jail Hillsboro, Texas 1893 Contractor, Lovell and Wood W.C. Dodson Lovell–Buchanan House Denton, Texas 1896 Builder — Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square Denton, Texas 1896 Contractor W.C. Dodson Old Brazoria County Courthouse Angleton, Texas 1897 Contractor Eugene T. Heiner Coryell County Courthouse Gatesville, Texas 1897 Builder W.C. Dodson Arizona Territorial Capitol Phoenix, Arizona 1900 Contractor James Riely Gordon McLennan County Courthouse Waco, Texas 1902 Contractor James Riely Gordon Acadia Parish Courthouse Crowley, Louisiana 1902 Contractor James Riely Gordon and W. L. Stevens Post Office and Federal Building (now Leadville City Hall) Leadville, Colorado 1905 Builder F. L. Lecaff (supervising architect) Hardeman County Courthouse Quanah, Texas 1908 Contractor, Tom Lovell & Sons R. H. Stuckey Post Office Provo, Utah 1909 Contractor Office of the Supervising Architect, under James Knox Taylor Post Office and Courthouse Ogden, Utah 1909 Contractor James Knox Taylor Post Office and Federal Building Port Arthur, Texas 1911 Contractor, Tom Lovell & Sons James Knox Taylor Federal Building Enid, Oklahoma 1911 Contractor, Tom Lovell Company James Knox Taylor Post Office and Courthouse Lander, Wyoming 1912 Contractor, Tom Lovell & Sons James Knox Taylor

Death and legacy

Lovell died at his Oak Street home in Denton in 1911 after a three-month paralysis and was buried in Denton's I.O.O.F. Cemetery beside Theresa. A Dallas Morning News obituary described him as "one of Denton's prominent citizens". His sons continued the contracting business after his death, and Tom Lovell & Sons remained active at least through 1937, when it completed the major expansion of the U.S. Post Office and Federal Building in Port Arthur.

A 1965 proposal to demolish the Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square was defeated after local opposition, and the building was later preserved as a central landmark of the city.

More than a century after its completion, the Port Arthur Federal Building became part of a proposed revitalization of the city's downtown. In 2019, Motiva Enterprises announced plans to rehabilitate the building and the neighboring Adams Building for office use while preserving their historic exteriors. Construction on the two buildings resumed in 2023.

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