254 Texas Courthouses
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125 of 254:  Aransas County Courthouse, Rockport, Texas.  County Population:  23,158

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Aransas County, Texas
"... the [Aransas] region was only sparsely settled on the eve of the Texas Revolution.
"After Texas independence, the area became part of the newly formed Refugio County. Around 1832 James Power founded Aransas City on Live Oak Point near the site of the Aránzazu fort. A customhouse, a post office, and several stores were established at the settlement, which by April 1840 served as the de facto seat of government for Refugio County.
"In 1840 Refugio became the county seat, and as a result Aransas City began to decline; by 1846 it had ceased to exist.
"[Following the Civil War] several new towns were founded, including Fulton in 1866 and Rockport in 1867.
"In March 1871, because the great cattle boom had established it as the most important town in the area, Rockport became county seat of Refugio County. On September 18 of the same year, the legislature voted to divide the county and designated much of the coastal area as a new county named Aransas. Rockport was made the county seat, ...
"In 1888 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad (later the Texas and New Orleans) reached Rockport, thus ensuring the town's continued importance as a shipping center."
Christopher Long, "ARANSAS COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online 
I visited Aransas County and photographed the courthouse in Rockport on Sunday, October 16, 2011. 

New Aransas County Courthouse in the construction documents phase.  Construction will start in the summer of 2021.  The building could be occupied by the end of 2022.

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Fulton, Texas

Aransas County Courthouse  1889

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Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
Designed by noted courthouse James Riely Gordon, this Moorish styled building was demolished in 1956 to make way for a new courthouse.  BOO!
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Photograph, circa 1939, courtesy TXDOT
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Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Aransas County Courthouse  1956

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Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
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Lynn Evans, Architect with Roy Abbott, Designer
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Suffice it to say, the building has not aged well
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View from the courthouse
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Hurricane Harvey 2017  

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The site of the former Aransas County courthouse, destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017

Temporary Aransas County Courthouse 2018 

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Photo courtesy of Abbey Matteson Ames
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Fulton Mansion, 1875
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