Start planning your trip from your computer. These pictures give you a glimpse of Texas Hill Country courthouses without leaving your home. Though pictures don’t offer a sense of the grandeur you feel visiting these courthouses in person, they do provide you with a sense of the effort put into the construction of these beautiful public buildings.
Lifestyle
Hill Country Courthouses: Some of Texas’ Most Beautiful Buildings
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1. Bandera
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
This courthouse in Bandera has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979, though Bandera originally had an even older courthouse before this one.
2. Bell
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Texas Hill Country courthouses such as this one in Belton, the county seat of Bell County, often decorate for the holidays. If you visit Bell County during December, you may see Christmas decorations on the building.
3. Blanco
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Blanco County’s courthouse, located in Johnson City, features a signature classic revival design. This large building sits in former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s hometown.
4. Burnet
Photo: Flickr/Stuart Seeger
Unlike other classically-designed Texas Hill County courthouses, the Burnet County courthouse has a more modern construction.
5. Comal
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
It’s easy to see how some might confuse Comal County’s courthouse for a cathedral, but the only thing the two have in common is a Romanesque architecture style.
6. Coryell
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The Coryell County courthouse gets its colorful design from white limestone and red sandstone used in its construction during the 1890s.
7. Crockett
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The Crocket County courthouse in Ozona, Texas, has its construction date, 1902, on the front of the building, near the roof. When you see this courthouse in person, look for the date on the front, and note the unusual color of the limestone used in its construction.
8. Edwards
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Like many other Texas Hill Country courthouses, the Edwards County one in Rocksprings uses limestone in its construction. It also shares its Romanesque Revival design with many other public buildings also constructed in the 1890s.
9. Gillespie
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Much more modern in its design than other Hill Country courthouses, Gillespie County courthouse in Fredericksburg features both an unusual material and design. Though limestone was used for most Hill Country public buildings, Gillespie proved to be a product of its time during its construction in 1939. Builders opted for brick rather than quarried stone and a simple, modern design style rather than the more ornate classically-inspired styles of older courthouses.
10. Hays
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
If you visit San Marcos in Hays County, look up when you visit the courthouse. You’ll see a statue of Justice with the scales in her hands on the top of the rotunda of the building.
