Ridgway in Ouray County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
True Grit Landmark #6
Courthouse Facade
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 18, 2025
1. True Grit Landmark #6 Marker
The impressive Fort Smith courthouse was a building front and entryway created for the movie. It was located where this building now stands. Interior scenes were filmed 10 miles south of Ridgway at the Ouray County Courthouse.
John Wayne won his only Academy Award for True Grit, filmed in 1968.
Ridgway Sites:
1 — Railroad Depot 2 — Gallows 3 — Livery Stable 4/5 — Undertaker & Chen Lee's Place
6 — Courthouse Facade 7 — True Grit Cafe 8/9 — Saloon & Grocery, Jail Wagon
Ouray Sites:
10 — Ouray County Courthouse 11 — Outlaw Restaurant
Order sites appear in movie: 8, 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 9, 5, 3
Erected by Jenny Cheek, Larry Harley, Weaver Family Foundation, Ouray County Ranch History Museum & Ridgway Chamber of Commerce. (Marker Number 6.)
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment. A significant historical year for this entry is 1969.
Location. 38° 9.108′ N, 107° 45.388′ W. Marker is in Ridgway, Colorado, in Ouray County. It is on North Lena Street just north of Sherman Street (State Highway 62), on the left when traveling north. The marker is mounted at
this page online
Regionally, this marker is in the Western Slope. It is also in the American Mountain West. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: True Grit Landmark #7 (a few steps from this marker); True Grit Landmark #2 (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); True Grit Landmark #3 (about 300 feet away); True Grit Landmark #4 & #5 (about 300 feet away); True Grit Landmark #1 (about 400 feet away); History of Ridgway / Gateway to the San Juans (about 400 feet away); True Grit Jail Wagon (about 500 feet away); Ridgway Depot Outbuilding (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Ridgway.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. True Grit Filming Landmarks
Also see . . .
1. True Grit (Wikipedia).
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 18, 2025
2. True Grit Landmark #6 Marker
The marker is mounted on the left side of the Decker Building central courtyard breezeway.
Excerpt: True Grit is a 1969 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway and produced by Hal B. Wallis. Starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, the story follows Marshal Cogburn and Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) as they are hired by a young girl, Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), to apprehend the outlaw who killed her father.(Submitted on August 27, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Filming took place mainly in Ouray County, Colorado, in the vicinity of Ridgway, around the town of Montrose, and the town of Ouray. (The script maintains the novel's references to place names in Arkansas and Oklahoma, in dramatic contrast to the Colorado topography.)
2. True Grit Filming Locations (Movie-locations.com).
Excerpt: The courthouse itself was nothing more than a wooden façade, erected roughly where the Decker Building now stands. The courthouse design was supposedly based on Ouray County Courthouse, about ten miles southeast (though there’s not really much resemblance).(Submitted on August 27, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
3. When John Wayne FINALLY won an Academy Award for his role in True Grit (Goldradio.com).
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 18, 2025
3. Decker Building (east/front elevation)
Site of courthouse façade built for True Grit filming.
(By Mayer Nissim, 3/7/2024) Excerpt: John Wayne only won a single Academy Award in his whole career. That was in 1970, for his role in the previous year's True Grit. By this point, Wayne was already in the long twilight of a career that had started way back in the mid-1920s with a number of uncredited roles, and kicked off in earnest in 1930 with his first starring role in The Big Trail. By 1970, his Oscar was long, long overdue, even if his performance as drunken one-eyed US Marshall Rooster Cogburn wasn't necessarily his greatest work. “Wow! If I'd have known that I would have put that patch on thirty-five years earlier,” Wayne quipped in his acceptance speech.(Submitted on August 27, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on June 18, 2026. It was originally submitted on August 26, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 132 times since then and 44 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 27, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
