Everett Taylor: Taylor's Yarns

Historic Texas courthouses were disappearing so steadily a few years ago they were placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "11 Most Endangered Historic Places" list.

That's when the Texas Legislature stepped up and established the Texas Historic Courthouse Prese-rvation program in 1999 and appropriated funding to preserve and protect historic courthouses.

The rescue came too late for Tyler and a lot of other Texas cities, where historic courthouse buildings over the years were dismantled to make way for more modern structures or for other construction.

But more than 40 of the state's historic courthouses have been restored and returned to their original grandeur through the state's preservation program, which has received national recognition and multiple awards since its inception.

These structures are dominant landmarks in many Texas counties and the endurance of these grand structures was cemented even further last year through a partnership between the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Land Title Association.

Together they created a training and assistance program to promote ongoing, regular maintenance of Texas' historic county courthouses. The TLTA recently renewed its support with a grant marking continuation of the THC's Texas Courthouse Stewardship Initiative, meant to sustain historic courthouses by assuring continued maintenance.

The stewardship initiative had its first successful training workshop in March 2007, and provided courthouse site visits and consultations with THC architects. Such issues as inspecting the protective exterior envelope of the building, how to identify mechanical malfunctions, budgeting and maintenance were covered in the sessions.

Sponsors considered the event very successful based on a large number of participants from counties throughout the state.

Another workshop is scheduled for April 10-11 this year in Austin, and incentives for courthouses participating in the preservation program will be offered. Featured speakers will discuss issues relevant to courthouse preservation.

The program now has completed four rounds of grant funding with 112 counties participating.

The 80th Texas Legislature included $62 million in bond funding for Round V of the program being distributed this month to assist additional counties interested in preserving their historic courthouses.

A large number of historic courthouses in the state are well over 100 years old, a check of a list compiled by the Texas Historical Commission indicates. Many structures originally built in the 1800s are still utilized as active courthouses.

One of the oldest listed was in Rio Grande City, Starr County, which was built in 1854. It presently is vacant. A building dating back to 1856 in Comanche (Comanche county) is now a museum and an 1886 structure in Marfa, Presidio County, is now a commercial building.

Many of the old structures still serve as active courthouses, including some in the eastern Texas area. That list includes Clarksville in Red River County with an 1885 model courthouse; Sulphur Springs in Hopkins County, 1894; and Center in Shelby County, 1885.

Some of the other older courthouses still in active use include Hillsboro, 1890; Llano, 1892; San Antonio, 1892; Granbury, 1890; Albany, 1883; Franklin, 1882; Victoria, 1892; and Fort Worth, 1895.

The historic courthouse preservation movement appears to have come just in time to preserve and restore enough of these structures to keep them from becoming an "extinct" species in Texas.

Everett Taylor
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