Duvall County Courthouse (San Diego)

Architect: Sanquinet Staats and Gotlieb.

Year Built: 1916.

The Duval County Courthouse is located in San Diego, Texas.

Duval County was created by the Texas Legislature in 1858, but was attached to Nueces County until 1876 when a group of citizens petitioned for an organizational election.

San Diego and Duval County are dry, dusty and poor. During my photo visit I experienced a sense of being in rural Mexico or another desolate community, where not happens and not much changes. The Courthouse is in desperate need of repair and the only place we could find to eat (that was open at 3PM on a Sunday) was a run-down Dairy Queen.

Yet, Duval County played a pivotal role in national politics, and the outcome of a Senate election here likely had presidential implications that forever changed the United States and the World. The election propelled Lyndon Baines Johnson (“LBJ”) to national prominence, and eventually to the position of Vice-President of the United States.

Larger than life characters — the Dukes of Duval — came from here and would eventually come to symbolize the patron system of small town Texas and its attendant political corruption.

For a great story about George Parr and the 1948 Senate Election, check out Episode 2 of the Wise About Texas podcast.

Learn more about the Box 13 Scandal and its late ballots in this Texas Monthly article.