Menard County Courthouse (Menard)

Architect:  Elmer G. Withers.

Year Built: 1932.

The Menard County Courthouse is located in Menard, Texas. It is constructed in the Art Deco style and serves as the prototype for Withers-designed courthouses in Ector County  and Upshur County. The Courthouse was restored by the Texas Historical Commission and rededicated in 2006.

An excellent bio of Withers appears on the 254texascourthouses site.  Wilmers also designed courthouses in Roberts County (Miami), Marion County (Jefferson), Jones County(Anson) and Armstrong County (Claude).

The first settlement at the site of what is now Menard was the Spanish Mission San Sabá and the Presidio of San Luís de Amarillas, both established in April 1757. The presidio was later replaced by the Presidio of San Sabá in 1761. Both were intended to protect New Spain‘s northern frontier from marauding Comanches. Due to the presidio’s isolation, it suffered repeated attacks, and was finally abandoned in 1770. Stones from the old presidio walls were used by later settlers to build homes and fences. The ruins of the old presidio were reconstructed in 1936.

The community was first known as Menardville when the site was laid out in 1858, after the formation of Menard County.