Leon County Courthouse (Centerville)

Year Built:  1886.

Architect: William Johnson or George E. Dickey (no consensus).

The Leon County Courthouse is located in Centerville, Texas.  Some credit its design to architect William Johnson. Others claim that George Edwin Dickey was the architect.

The Courthouse was built on the footprint of the previous 1856 courthouse, which burned under mysterious circumstances on November 9, 1885.

Two vaults in the courthouse survived the fire with some damage and were left in place. In response to an urgent need for a safe depository for records, an order was issued by the commissioners’ court to build two fireproof vaults on the site of the old courthouse using bricks from the ruins. A new temple of justice was to be built around these. These vaults were to be located in the space that had existed between the offices of the county and district clerks. Then a resolution was introduced to build a new courthouse on the same plan as the old.

In 2007 the Texas Historic Commission oversaw a full restoration to a 1909 date.

Notably, there are 2 jury boxes and 2 witness stands in the courtroom (see video below).