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The 1908 Hays
County Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, June 2007 |
The
Current Hays County Courthouse
- San
Marcos, Texas
Date - 1908
Architect - C.H. Page & Bros.
Style - Beaux-Arts
Material - Elgin buff and gray brick with limestone stringcourses.
On the eastside entrance to the building is a beautiful 1907 fountain
that includes an ankle-height trough for dogs. |
Historical Marker:
The Courthouses
of Hays County
When Hays
County originated in 1848, its one public building was a log
church-schoolhouse that had to serve as the courthouse, along with
its other uses.
Although the San Marcos townsite,
platted in 1851, contained a court square donated to the county,
the forfeiture of a $2,000.00 criminal bond later gave the county
funds for building, and in 1861 officials employed contractor C.
F. Millett to erect on the Square a 36 x 40-foot, 2-story frame
courthouse with a hearing room, jury rooms, and 4 offices. That
pine building burned in 1868, and county officials operated from
rented quarters until a courthouse of soft, locally quarried limestone
was completed in 1871. Damaged by earth shiftings, that 2-story,
45 x 53-foot building was razed (1881) and replaced by a 50 x 60-foot,
2-story building of harder limestone designed by F. E. Ruffini,
architect for University of Texas buildings and for courthouses
in several other counties. After that 1882-83 structure lost its
top story in a fire on Feb. 28, 1908, it also was razed.
The fourth
and present courthouse, in eclectic style, was designed by C. H.
Page & Brother, of Austin.
Completed and accepted by the county court on Dec. 13, 1909, it
has had interior alterations; it was restored in 1972.
1974
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Hand-tinted postcard
of the 1908 Hays County Courthouse.
Postcard courtesy of Phyllis C. Rummel |
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1908
was a good year for architect C.H. Page and Brother (the way the
company name appears on the cornerstone). Their design was used
for two nearly identical courthouses - one here and one for Ft.
Bend County (Richmond). The primary difference is that Hays
County declined the clocks. Sometime after 1908 the company
name was changed to the more traditional "Page Brothers."
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The 1908 Hays
County Courthouse as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
Statue of justice
atop the Hays County courthouse.
Photo courtsy Terry
Jeanson, June 2007 |
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The 1908 re-building retained the cornerstone from
the 1882 F.E.
Ruffini courthouse and positioned it in
the foundation near the new cornerstone. |
The 1882 Cornerstone
F.E. Ruffini, Architect
Photo by John Troesser, 9-01 |
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The
1908 cornerstone.
"C.H. Page and Bro." Architects
Photo by John Troesser, 9-01 |
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A
Corinthian Capital
Photo by John Troesser, 9-01 |
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Southside
Entrance of the Hays County Courthouse
Photo by John Troesser, 9-01 |
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Southside
entrance looking west.
Photo by John Troesser, 9-01 |
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The
courthouse annex.
The side with awnings faces the courthouse.
Photo by John Troesser, 9-01 |
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Hays County Courthouse
aerial view
Photo courtesy of Paul Turner |
The 1882 Hays
County Courthouse
1900 post card courtesy THC |
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