197 of 254 Kinney County Courthouse, Bracketville, Texas. County Population: 3,598
Kinney County, Texas
|
"Kinney County is west of San Antonio on U.S. Highway 90 in the Rio Grande Plain region. Roughly square in shape, it is bordered by Edwards County in the north, Uvalde County on the east, Maverick County on the south, and Val Verde County and Mexico on the west. The county embraces 1,359 square miles, partly on the Edwards Plateau and partly on the plain of the Rio Grande, which forms the southwestern boundary. The land is level to rolling in the south and rugged in the north along the Balcones Escarpment and the breaks of the Nueces River. Anacacho Mountain is in the southeast. The altitude ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 feet.
"Despite the region's sparse population, the state legislature authorized the formation of the county from Bexar County in 1850 and named it for early settler and adventurer Henry Lawrence Kinney. In June 1852 the United States Army established a fort on Las Moras Creek, which it named Fort Riley; the name was changed a month later to Fort Clark, after John B. Clark, who had died in the Mexican War. Brackett (now Brackettville) was established nearby the same year and named for Oscar B. Brackett, who came to set up a stage stop and opened the town's first dry-goods store. Brackett became a stop on a stage line from San Antonio to El Paso. "By 1874 the population was large enough for the county to be formally organized, and by 1875 the first county government was in place. In 1876 Brackettville was designated county seat after the final boundaries of the county were set by the legislature." Christopher Long, "KINNEY COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online |
I visited Kinney County and photographed the courthouse in Brackettville on Saturday, April 26, 2014
The courthouse tower peeks over the limestone mass of the Brackettville Bank & Trust building
Kinney County Courthouse 1910The architect for this diminutive building was Leslie L. Thurman of Dallas, designer of the Franklin (1912) and Henderson (1913) County courthouses. The building was constructed by the Falls City Construction Company of Louisville, Kentucky. The style is Beaux Arts classicism, rendered on a budget. The plan is a square with a projecting front façade flanked by projecting octagonal, turreted bays, suggesting towers. The clock tower, pushed forward towards the front of the building, gives the rather squat courthouse a much needed vertical emphasis, albeit without sufficient visual/decorative connection to the two lower floors. The resulting composition is disjointed, unlike Thurman's later courthouses, which were better composed. The exterior is in need of restoration, especially the fenestration; many windows have been removed and replaced with blank panels. The clock appears to be out of order.
|
Image courtesy courthousehistory.com
|
The front façade of the courthouse. The clock tower lacks a base that connects it visually to the lower floors
|
The clock tower is very well detailed and resembles the Franklin County courthouse tower in Mount Vernon
|
The courthouse is very orange. This view is from the north, at the intersection of James and Fritter Streets
The back side of the courthouse
The side entrance on W 3rd Street, across from the County Appraisal District offices
Close-up view of the W. 3rd Street facade
|
The Appraisal District offices on W. 3rd Street
|
The front of the courthouse faces north and east, on James Street between Fritter and W. 3rd Streets, where the orthogonal grid of the town is turned at an angle
The County Jail is adjacent to the courthouse. It must have been visiting day...
The 1885 Patrick Building on North Street at Fritter
Other commercial buildings on North Street at Fritter
There are a number of limestone ruins on W. 3rd Street near the courthouse
A limestone façade near the courthouse
Welcome, but warned!