Tom Lovell

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. 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. 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. 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.