Year Built: 1956 Architect: Lynn A. Evans The Aransas County Courthouse is located in Rockport, Texas. As of this writing, Courts in Aransas County are operating out of rented space in a shopping center (see below).  Hurricane Harvey destroyed the 1956 Courthouse in August 2017, and by February 2018, what remained of the severely damaged…

Year Built: 1910 Architect: Charles Erwin Barglebaugh (Lang and Witchell) The Historic 1910 Harris County Courthouse is located in downtown Houston. From the Historical Marker: This site has served as the Courthouse Square for Harris (originally Harrisburg) County since the completion of the first county courthouse, a two-story frame structure, in April 1838. Later courthouses…

Year Built: 1970 Architect: Gene P. Hobart Cost: $475,000 The Zavala County Courthouse is located in Crystal City, Texas. It is one of my least favorite Texas Courthouses, and is in poor condition. A new courthouse annex, which will become the new courthouse is under design by Fisher Heck Architects. Huge Plaintiff’s verdicts have been issued…

Year Built: 1932 Architect: Withers & Thompson The Young County Courthouse is located in Graham, Texas. From the 1969 Historical Marker: Young County was organized in 1856 with Belknap designated as county seat. After retreat of frontier troops during Civil War, county records were moved to Jacksboro 1865 during renewed Indian trouble. County was reorganized 1874…

Year Built: 1925 Architect: C. H. Leinbach The Wood County Courthouse is located in Quitman, Texas. From the 2003 marker text: The Texas Legislature created Wood County in 1850 with Quitman as the county seat. The county first used a log courthouse on the south side of the square before building a two-story frame structure, which…

Year Built: 1897 Architect: J. Riely Gordon The Wise County Courthouse is located in Decatur, Texas. This is another masterpiece from my favorite courthouse architect, J. Riley Gordon. It has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. From the National Register Narrative: “The design of J. Riely Gordon for the Wise County Courthouse was…

Year Built: 1928 Architect: Voelcker & Dixon The Wilbarger County Courthouse is located in Vernon, Texas. Boasting a Classical Revival style, the Wilbarger County Courthouse was designed by Voelcker and Dixon architects of Wichita Falls, and completed in 1928. The county passed a $375,000 bond issue in support of the courthouse, which was built of…

Year Built: 1887 Architect: Jacob Larmour & A.O. Watson The Val Verde County Courthouse is located in Del Rio, Texas. Organized in 1885 from sections of Crockett, Kinney, and Pecos Counties, Val Verde County was named for a Civil War battle in New Mexico which involved Texas Confederate Forces. The growing railroad town of Del…

Year Built: 2006 Architect:  Pierce, Goodwin, Alexander & Linville (PGAL) The Harris County Civil Courthouse is located in Houston. It is a 17 story, 650,000 square foot modern and state-of-the art building.       HARRIS COUNTY CRIMINAL JUSTICE CENTER  

Year Built: 1964 Architect: Peters and Fields The Ector County Courthouse is located in Odessa, Texas. From the historic marker: Seat of justice for Ector, created out of Tom Green County in 1887 and organized in 1891. The 1891 courthouse was frame, the remodelled town sanitarium, moved to the present square. Its first floor had…

Year Built: 1896 Architect: W. C. Dodson The Denton County Courthouse is located in Denton, Texas. It is absolutely beautiful and one of my very favorite Texas courthouses. I visited early on a Saturday morning and the grounds were abuzz with activity, including a band of pickers holding an al fresco practice. From the 1967…

Year Built: 1914 Architect: M. L. Waller The Crosby County Courthouse is located in Crosbyton, Texas. Text from Historic Marker “Crosby County Courthouses” (1966) Crosby County, created in 1876 and organized 1886, had its first county seat at Estacado (founded 1879 by a colony of Quakers). It was on a mail and stage road, in the…

Year Built: 1948 Architect: Groos, Clift & Ball The Crane County Courthouse is located in Crane, Texas.  The County is sparsely populated, with less than 5,000 inhabitants as of the 2020 census.  The county is oil rich, and has a history as a rough and tumble place with a red light district, but today it…

Year Built: 1884/1952 (significant remodel) Architect: W.W. Dudley / Wyatt Cephus Hedrick (1952 remodel) The Coleman County Courthouse is located in Coleman, Texas. For a great history of Coleman County, check out this compilation by Ralph Terry. There has only been one courthouse constructed in Coleman County (1884), but it was severely modified in 1952. The…

Year Built: 1884 Architect: Wilson & Tozer The Clay County Courthouse is located in Henrietta, Texas. From the Application to the National Register of Historic Places: Clay County was organized in 1857 but Indian raids later forced abandonment. In 1872 the county was reorganized by the Texas Legislature and the following year the county commissioners…

Year Built: 1940 Architect: Lamar Cato The Brazoria County Courthouse is located in Angleton, Texas. “Old  Brazoria County Courthouse” plaque from the Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1983 Angleton’s first permanent courthouse was built in 1897, a year after the city was chosen Brazoria County seat. Constructed from plans originally drawn for the Matagorda County…

Year Built: 1955 Architect: Wilbur Kent The Angelina County Courthouse is Located in Lufkin, Texas, its county seat. The area that is now Angelina County was originally occupied by agricultural Indians of Caddoan and Atakapan-related stock. The county was named for a Hasinai Indian girl who, according to Spanish legend, helped early Spanish missionaries of the…

Architect: Wyatt C. Hedrick. Year Built: 1939. The Comanche County Courthouse is located in the City of Comanche, Texas. Funded by the WPA, it is designed in the Moderne style that is common in Texas Courthouses built in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Architect Hedrick is responsible for numerous Texas Courthouses to include the following: Austin…

Architect: C. H. Page, Jr. Year Built: 1929. The Hunt County Courthouse is located in Greenville, Texas. “Built in 1929 as the seventh Hunt County Courthouse, this building was designed by W. R. Ragsdale & Sons of Greenville and Page Brothers of Austin. The 6-story building depicts a transition from classical revival to art deco…

Architect: Joseph Finger. Year Built: 1936. The Montgomery County Courthouse is located in Conroe, Texas. The current Montgomery County Courthouse is the 5th to serve the County, but only the 2nd to be constructed in Conroe. Prior to 1889, Montgomery was the county seat. The four-story structure has a modernistic block face with limestone and…

Architect: Tibor Beermann. Year Built: 1966. The Galveston County “Old” Courthouse is located in downtown Galveston, Texas.  It is one of many buildings to have served as the County’s courthouse since the founding of Galveston. It replaced a Eugene Heiner designed courthouse. The grounds have large palm trees and the structure is in the moderne style of…

Year Built: 1931. Architect: Corneil G. Curtis. The Liberty County Courthouse is located in Liberty, Texas. This Modernistic courthouse is distinguished by its raised basement, which sits above grade. Its sides are symmetrical but has a large addition on the east side which obscures its proportions. The courthouse is faced with Texas Cordova Cream limestone…

Architect: David Castle. Year Built: 1930. The Winkler County Courthouse is located in the West Texas City of Kermit. The courthouse lawn is peaceful, but a large tree obstructs much of the direct view of the courthouse from the front. The architect, David S. Castle, was a prominent architect in Abilene. He designed numerous governmental…

Year Built: 1931. Architect: Fred Stone and Augustin Babin. The Jefferson County Courthouse is located in Beaumont, Texas. The Courthouse is 14 stories tall, and has a striking Arts Deco design with a grand and beautiful entrance that reminded me of the entrance to the Rockefeller Center in New York.  Although not always a fan…

“The Temple of Justice” Architect:  Charles Wheelock. Year Built: 1876. Major renovation in 1927. The Old Collin County Courthouse, affectionately known as the “Temple of Justice” is located in downtown McKinney, Texas. It is presently used as a performing arts center and is rented to a church who conducts services there on Sunday. From the…

Architect: Adams & Adams. Year Built:  1926. The Kerr County Courthouse is presently located in Kerrville, though its location has moved around over the years. I have handled several cases in Kerr County, and find it a pleasant place to work. An excerpt From the UNT Portal to Texas History: The current Kerr County Courthouse…

Architect: Voelcker and Dixon. Year Built:  1937. The Van Zandt County Courthouse is located in Canton, Texas.  The following detailed description is taken from the 2017 Texas Historical Commission’s application to add the Courthouse to the federal National Register of Historic Places. The Van Zandt County Courthouse exhibits characteristics of the Classical Moderne style, with…

Architect:  Voelcker & Dixon. Year Built: 1941. The Rockwall County Historic Courthouse is located in the City of Rockwall, Texas. C0nstruction of the 1941 courthouse to replace the 1893 courthouse was a WPA Project. Rockwall is the smallest Texas County in area, but its population has surged tremendously. The historic courthouse stands on a quaint…

Architect: Frederick Gunn & Louis Curtiss. Year Built: 1895. The Tarrant County Courthouse is located in Fort Worth, Texas. This magnificent building reminds me of one of my very favorite structures in Texas — the Texas State Capitol building. Text of the Texas Historical Marker: Designed by firm of Gunn & Curtis and built by…

Architect: Morey & McGill. Year Built: 1956. The Kaufman County Courthouse is located in the city of Kaufman, Texas. Both the county, established in 1848, and the city were named for David S. Kaufman, a U.S. Representative and diplomat from Texas. Previous courthouses for Kaufman County were erected in 1851, 1861 and 1887. From the…

Architect: William Thomas “W.T.” Strange, Jr. Year Built: 1939. The Andrews County Courthouse is located in the City of Andrews, Texas. Andrews is located in West Texas, on the border with New Mexico, approximately 110 miles southwest of Lubbock and 35 miles northwest of the Midland-Odessa area. It is bounded on the north by Gaines County,…

Architect: Blum E. Hester. Year Built:  1939. The Houston County Courthouse is located in Crockett, Texas. On June 12, 1837, President Sam Houston authorized the formation of Houston County, the first newly created county in the Republic of Texas. Andrew W. Gossett (1812-1890) donated land, which included this square, for the townsite. He and his…

Architect: Orlopp & Kusener. Year Built:  1892. The historic Dallas County Courthouse is located in Dallas, Texas. It is the SIXTH courthouse to sit on the present site. All prior courthouses wholly or partially burned.  The “Old Red” Courthouse currently serves as a museum dedicated to the history of Dallas County. In 1966 Old Red was…

The historic double height courtroom is located at the south end of the second and third floors of the Bexar County Courthouse. The courtroom was restored to its original 1896 condition and re-opened in January 2015.  Prior to the restoration, the space was divided into 2 levels used for 2 separate courtrooms since the 1960’s….

This is a batch of pictures I took on one of the very rare occasions that the corridors of the Bexar County Courthouse is not brimming with people. These halls are usually abuzz with litigants, attorneys and courthouse! I took these on December 31, 2021, right before the courthouse closed.            

Architect: Trost & Trost. Year Built: 1937. The Reeves County Courthouse is located in Pecos, Texas (not to be confused with Pecos County whose county seat is Fort Stockton). The courthouse is a textured buff brick structure whose brown color seems to blend in with the landscape. From the Reeves County – Pecos, Texas Historical…

Year Built: 1955. Architect: Styles, Robert, Gee & Messersmith. The Gaines County Courthouse is located in Seminole, Texas.  Despite the name Seminole, Gaines County was formerly Comanche Indian country. Located in the High Plains of West Texas, Gaines County proclaims itself to be the #1 County for production of peanuts, cotton and oil. The county was…

Year Built:  1894. Architect:  F.S. Glover & Co. The unique Itialianate style Grimes County Courthouse is located in historic Anderson, Texas. The current courthouse is the Fifth to serve the County, and was restored by the Texas Historic Commission and rededicated in 2002. There is an excellent paper written about the History of the Grimes…

Year Built: 1909. Architect: Edward Columbus Hosford. The Glasscock County Courthouse is located in Garden City, Texas. The courthouse is located at the intersection of Texas 158 and FM 33 and is built in the Classical Revival style of stone and surrounded with columned porticoes. Glasscock County Historical marker text: Created in 1887. Organized 1893,…