Brazos Trail Region

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MA AND THE SISTERS

Often the first site visitors see once arriving in Belton is the Bell County Courthouse, perhaps one of the most elaborate in the Renaissance Revival style. This structure utilizes highly decorative elements such as carved capitals and bases to accentuate its already imposing, three-story profile constructed of golden-colored stones quarried locally. The courthouse is dominated by a one hundred and twenty-five foot tower where the Goddess of Justice, sword in hand, symbolically wields judgment over the guilty. Belton is also home to Miriam A. Ferguson, Texas’ first female governor affectionately known as “Ma”. “Ma’s” memorabilia along with that of the Belton Woman’s Commonwealth, a religious and social movement led by prominent local women known as the “Sanctified Sisters” who operated a modern hotel, steam laundry, farm coop and founded the first city library can be found just off the square, the Bell County Museum. Belton benefitted from the cattle drive era as a stop on the Chisholm Trail while its farming heritage set it apart as a regional cotton shipping and processing hub, evidenced by the unusual brick cotton gin building now a favorite restaurant on Nolan Creek in downtown Belton.