034 of 254:  Colorado County Courthouse, Columbus, Texas.  County Population:  20,874

Colorado County, Texas

"The city of live oaks and live folks."

Image courtesy of courthousehistory.com

One of the oldest towns in Texas, Columbus serves as the county seat of Colorado  County and contains a wealth of Greek Revival and Victorian architecture.
Dominating the historic town is the Colorado County courthouse which stands in  the center of the courthouse square.  Designed in 1890 by the well-known architect Eugene T. Heiner from Houston, the 19th century, three-story, brick courthouse represented the typical late 19th century imposing Victorian public structure.  The original building contained a hipped roof with cresting over each of the dominant masses and a small pediment over the central entrance bay. Rising from the center of the roof was a tall clock tower with a truncated hipped roof and corner bartizans surrounding the clock face. In 1909 a tornado destroyed the tower and much of the roof. Subsequent remodeling retained the original three floors, but changed the roof and tower.
From the National Register narrative
The courthouse was re-dedicated on May 17, 2014, following a complete restoration, funded in part by the Texas Historical Commission's Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.  The restoration returned the courthouse to its 1909 condition, rather than the original 1890 building. 

I visited Colorado County and photographed the courthouse in Columbus on January 27, 2010, September 3, 2011, May 1, 2012 and October 23, 2014.

---

The west side of the courthouse square.

The US Highway 90 bridge over the Colorado River in Columbus

"Colorado County, located about sixty miles above the Gulf of Mexico in south central Texas, is bounded on the northeast by Austin County, on the southeast by Wharton County, on the south by Jackson County, on the southwest by Lavaca County, and on the northwest by Fayette County. The county was named for the Colorado River, which bisects it northwest to southeast. Columbus is the county seat.  The county includes 964 square miles of level to rolling land with elevations that range from 150 to 425 feet above sea level.
"The territory that is now Colorado County was settled by Anglo colonists, many of whom belonged to Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, beginning in 1821.  Colorado County, one of the original counties of the Republic of Texas, was formed in 1836 and organized in 1837, the first district court being held by Robert M. Williamson in April 1837 at Columbus, the county seat."
Mark Odintz, "COLORADO COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online

Live oaks line the courthouse square.

The 1883 Columbus water tower, now a Museum

The historic Stafford Building on the courthouse square

The newly restored courthouse dome.

Following the storm damage, the 1909 alterations included new pediments.

January 27, 2010: the south facade before restoration. Note the one-story wings that had been added to the building.

September 3, 2011: restoration underway. The flanking one-story wings have been removed.

The front façade faces south (October 2014)

Another view of the south façade

The west facade

The north facade of the courthouse.

The upper portion of the north façade

The west stair landing at the ground floor prior to restoration

The restored first floor corridor

A beautifully restored detail on the first floor

The recently completed Colorado County Annex on the southeast corner of the square.

The Stafford Building, a Second Empire style building designed by noted architect Nicholas J. Clayton in 1886, was originally built to house both the bank and the opera house. The first floor housed the Stafford bank and the second floor was intended as an opulent theater.

Not all of the buildings on the square are historic.

Mount Vernon on the square!

Looking west, along the tracks of the former Galveston Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad, now part of the Union Pacific.