Event: Historical Restoration Project
Location: Johnson Roofing Corporate Office (574 Youngblood, Robinson, TX)
Date: 10/20/2011 (Saturday)
Time: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Johnson Roofing would like to extend an invitation for you to witness history in the making and have a once in a lifetime chance to stand next to an 18’ft tall 110 year old statue of “Themis” who has proudly watched over every event which has taken place at the McLennan County courthouse for over 110 years. This statue had a very unique view of the massive tornado which brought massive destruction to Waco in May of 1953 and escaped with only minimal damage to the scales of justice which she proudly held in her left hand. Elmer Anderson was hired to scale the courthouse dome with only a wooden ladder leaned against the statue over 170’ft off of the ground to re-install the scales.
Up until April of 2010 no one else has been that close to the Themis statue since it was first installed in 1901. Due to major damage and decay of the statue by many hail storms, high winds and natural aging Johnson Roofing had to completely remove the statue and the large base and bring it to our metal fabrication shop for very detailed and delicate repairs. This process is very slow and requires highly skilled metal craftsman to restore the statue and sword (Which fell off of the courthouse over 10 years ago and was destroyed). A new sword has also been custom built and permanently installed to prevent this again in the future.
In all over 5,456 individual parts or pieces of ornaments have been removed from the courthouse to either be replaced with new ones, or the originals repaired and are currently being restored at our shop. Each and every one of the parts were given a unique number and the location from where it was removed was documented so that the part can be installed back in the original location on the courthouse to preserve the original historic grace that Wacoan’s and people from all over the world have come to know and appreciate.
There were also two smaller statues which were standing guard 54’ feet above the main entrance of the courthouse. These statues are known as Lady Justice and Lady Liberty each statue is about 12’ft tall and were also severely damaged and needed drastic repairs and restoration. Lady Justice had a large hole in the top of her head which gave perfect access to a swarm of honey bees who have resided in the statue for about 15 years. When the statue was removed it was waste deep in beehives and honey which has all been removed.
Johnson Roofing has worked very close with the Texas Historical Commission who takes great pride in assuring that the historical buildings in Texas are protected and preserved and will maintain their beauty and elegance for many generations to come. The architecture that is designed into this beautiful courthouse has been said to be one of a kind and one of the most ornate buildings in the United States. We are proud to have such rich history in Waco and Johnson Roofing is proud to participate in the delicate restoration project.
The project for phase 1 is coming near to the end and has taken about 18 months to complete, All 3 statues’ are scheduled to be returned to the courthouse and be re-installed in their original locations high atop the courthouse in the month of October. This work will be done on two separate Saturdays while normal downtown traffic is reduced to allow access for many pieces of very large equipment and cranes. We would also like to invite you and the public out to watch this historical moment when Themis returns to her thrown.
We hope that you will take the opportunity to visit our facility on 10/20/2011 and get a chance to be close to these beautiful statues and see them up close so that you can appreciate the detail and beauty from only feet away. Once they are re-installed to the courthouse it may be another 100-150 years before they are again witnessed on the ground.
