My fellow architect and Texas courthouse enthusiast, Brantley Hightower, has published his long awaited book, The Courthouses of Central Texas.  Judging from the splendid photographs and drawings Hightower has made available on his website for the past few years, this book should be an instant classic.  I'll have more to say after my copy arrives.  In the meantime, you can order your own copy from the University of Texas Press or from Amazon.com.

Forgive me, I'm late in acknowledging the April 30, 2014 announcement of the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program Round VIII Grants.  On that date, at its Quarterly Meeting, the Texas Historical Commission announced that "The communities to receive emergency grant funds in Round VIII are the counties of Callahan, Dickens, Dimmit, Houston, Hunt, Jefferson, Karnes, Lamar, Lee, Limestone, Lipscomb, Lynn, Polk, Rains, San Saba, Upshur, Wilson and the city of Hidalgo. A total of $5,906,955 was awarded by including reallocated and reserve program funds from previous grant cycles."

"Due to the very limited $4.2 million appropriation made in the 83rd Texas Legislative Session, grants were limited to a maximum $450,000 state share with a 50/50 minimum match requirement.  The 24 applications submitted for the Round VIII grant cycle in 2014 total more than $18 million in anticipated project costs."

"The Round VIII emergency grants will address serious building deficiencies including fire and electrical hazards; water leaks in spaces where records are stored; major structural failures of stairs, walls and foundations; replacement of inefficient modern windows; masonry repairs and roof replacement. Many of the state’s more than 230 historic courthouses are in disrepair due to insufficient funding for building care and maintenance. There are 76 participants in the THCPP whose needs for additional program funds are as yet unmet."

The State of Texas has made a significant contribution to saving and maintaining our state's historic county courthouses, but much, much more needs to be done.  Any help our readers make in nudging our legislature to increase funding for the THCPP Grants would offer substantial help in this critical effort. 

I arrived in Eagle Pass late in the afternoon of Saturday, April 26.  The town of about 28,000 people is on the Rio Grande River, opposite Piedra Negras, Coahuila, a city of about 150,000.  I immediately liked this place.  The low hill surrounding the river valley were a welcome relief from the relentless mesquite and cactus prairie found just outside the river's reach.  Maverick County has a two courthouses near the center of Eagle Pass:  an historic building and a not so historic building.  Guess which one is which.

After a wonderful dinner at La Parrilla de San Miguel in Eagle Pass I slept soundly at the Holiday Inn Express. 

With my Texas county list now at 199, I began my long drive home to Houston on Sunday morning.  The forecast was for hot temperatures and high winds.  So, I filled up my Ford Focus from Enterprise rentals and headed east, to Crystal City, home of Popeye! 

On my trip home I would re-visit 6 county seats:  Crystal City, seat of Zavala County was first.  It's courthouse is still one of the most difficult to photograph.  Long, low and repetitive, with deep roof overhangs; it's not going to win any prizes.

Moving on, I drove south about 12 miles to the seat of Dimmit County, Carrizo Springs.  Just south of Crystal City I crossed the bridge over Turkey Creek.

The Dimmit County courthouse is still diminutive and the front is still obscured by trees.  And, yes, that's my Ford Focus rental car in the picture.  Not my favorite vehicle to drive, but it did get very good gas mileage.  It averaged 36 mpg over two days.

As the temperature began to climb into the high 90's I drove east, dodging oil field trucks, to Cotulla, seat of La Salle County.  This was my third visit to Cotulla.  Previous trips in 2009 and 2011 had yielded photographs of the historic courthouse undergoing restoration.  Now, finally, the work is finished.  Wow!  The courthouse is amazing.  It sparkles!

Funny, as I was filing my photographs from this trip I noticed that all three of my visits to Cotulla have been on the 27th day of the month.  That's remarkable and completely unplanned.  Unfortunately, Chuck's Bar and Dance Hall wasn't open for Sunday brunch.  Next time.  (on the 27th, of course)

Getting on I-35 north, I cruised along to Pearsall, seat of Frio County.  Sadly, the Frio County courthouse is just as, well, sad, as the first time I stopped by in 2009.  It really needs help.  Although it does have shiny new downspouts.

The temperature was now at 100 degrees so I stopped by Garcia's Bar & Grill in downtown Pearsall for a delicious TexMex lunch.  Next stop was Atascosa County.  As I passed through Jourdanton I captured a few more views of the courthouse.

Last stop before Houston:  Wilson County.  The historic courthouse in Floresville has been closed for a couple of years.  It's suffering from severe structural problems, beginning with the foundation.  Read about it here: 

http://tools.cira.state.tx.us/users/0163/docs/Dawn/News,%20Events/Courthouse/BROCHURE.pdf

August 4, 2013 -- the last day I'd visited and photographed a new Texas county.  Finally, after 8 long months I was back on the courthouse trail.  I began my two day trip in San Antonio.  The weather was overcast and cool as I drove west from the Alamo City on US Highway 90.  Today, Saturday, April 26, I would visit the last two county seats on US 90:  Brackettville, in Kinney County and Del Rio, in Val Verde County. 

US 90 enters Texas on the east at Orange County and continues west across the Lone Star State for exactly 607.861 miles according to TXDOT.  This important east-west highway parallels the Southern Pacific Railway's "Sunset Line" connecting New Orleans with Los Angeles.  I had previously visited Orange, Beaumont, Liberty, Houston (my home), Columbus, Seguin, San Antonio, Hondo, Uvalde, Sanderson, Alpine, Marfa and Van Horn, where Highway 90 ends, sort of in the middle of nowhere.  Each of these 13 cities and towns are county seats located on US 90.  Now it was time for me to see the last two.

But first, a stop in Uvalde, number 20 on my list.  I'd been here early on in my project, on August 27, 2009.  It was now time to take additional photographs of the Uvalde County courthouse and its surroundings.  

Since it was Saturday, the courthouse was closed.  However, as luck would have it, the county clerk, Ms. Ramona Esquivel Hobbs, and her husband arrived just as I was preparing to leave.  They graciously invited me in for a quick tour of the courthouse.  It was a wonderful opportunity, and I didn't hesitate to accept their invitation.  Ms. Hobbs has been searching the county's historic document files and organizing this treasure trove of Texas history.  I was able to photograph some sample documents, including a letter from 1900, written on elaborate Uvalde County letterhead.

As I left, Ms. Hobbs suggested I stop by the county's new event center and arena, located on the west side of town, on the south side of Highway 90.  Here's a photograph of the buildings.  The event center is on the right.

Leaving Uvalde, I drove west on US 90 and soon entered Kinney County.  Brackettville, a small town in the center of the county is the seat.  The historic courthouse, located on a rise in the center of town, while in good shape, is in need of a restoration. 

As I walked around town, I began to notice an unusual number of German sports cars parked on the streets.  Most of them were Porsches; some very nice cars!  Apparently, a sports car club had stopped here for lunch during a Saturday outing.  Too bad I'd left my Audi TT Roadster at home in Houston!  Otherwise, I would have joined them.

The sun was finally beginning to burn through the low clouds as I left Brackettville and headed down US 90 for Del Rio.  The Val Verde County line is on Sycamore Creek, which, like so many in Texas these days in a dry riverbed. 

Del Rio, Texas is a busy city, located on the Rio Grande River.  This is the last major town on the Rio Grande until you reach El Paso, hundreds of miles to the west.  There's a large US Air Force pilot training installation, Laughlin AFB, on the east side of town.  To the west, on US 90 is vast Lake Amistad on the Rio Grande.  The historic Val Verde County courthouse has been restored.  There's an adjacent courthouse annex on the square and the county has converted the former Federal Building into a court building.

Having now visited all 15 county seats on US Highway 90, I turned south and east and drove and followed the Rio Grande to Eagle Pass, seat of Maverick County.  Below is a photograph of pecan orchards along the highway. 

Austin, Texas, April 1, 2014:  Following an unusual "double-secret" special legislative session, the Texas Legislature voted today to establish the first new county in the state since 1931, when Loving County became the 254th Texas County.  So, move over Loving County; Friedman County, the 255th county, now becomes the "youngest county" in Texas. 

The Legislature named Friedman County in honor of "Kinky" Friedman, a Texas legend in his own mind.  The newest county was formed from the southern half of Travis County, including the City of Austin, the Texas state capital and home of the University of Texas, the only area of the state deemed "weird" enough to be named after Kinky Friedman. 

Until April 1, Austin was the seat of Travis County, but with the historic vote to establish a new Texas county, Austin is now the seat of Friedman County.  Don't worry, Travis County shrinks a little, but still exists, with a new county seat in the former city of Round Rock, renamed Dell, Texas by the legislation that established Friedman County.

The decision to create a new county took many in the state by surprise, especially Kinky Friedman.  "I'm high as a kite," Friedman replied when asked about this honor.  "I'm also humbled by the thought that a Texas county will forever bear my name," the self-styled satirist confessed. 

Richard Samet "Kinky" Friedman (born November 1, 1944) is a country singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician and former columnist for Texas Monthly .  Like many men for whom Texas counties were named, Friedman was born in a state other than Texas, namely Illinois, known as the "land of Lincoln" and now, Friedman.  His family moved to Texas when Kinky was a child.  Friedman graduated from Austin High School in 1962 and from the University of Texas in 1966.   During his freshman year at UT Friedman became known by the nickname "Kinky" because of his curly hair, not to mention his general weirdness.

The man behind the newest Texas County, albeit it a woman, was the late Texas writer, Molly Ivins, who, shortly before her death in 2007, began a secret, behind the scenes campaign to establish a Texas County that would bear the name of her favorite musician, Kinky Friedman. 

The Hidalgo County courthouse is stretched to its physical limits, and yet it's still nowhere near large enough to serve this rapidly growing South Texas county, whose 2010 population was 774,769.
In an August 13, 2013 story, The Monitor, a McAllen newspaper, explained that "The current facility was built in 1954 to house three courts and a much smaller county. Hidalgo County’s population has nearly quintupled and 19 more courts have been added since the nearly 60-year-old building was constructed, and few disagree the county needs a new facility."
Earlier this year, a May 8 story in The Monitor described a short-term solution Hidalgo County has taken to alleviate the space shortage:  modular buildings.  Familiar to public school staff and students, these "temporary" manufactured buildings are intended to kick the can down the road, until a new county courthouse is available.  "County officials plan to open the modular buildings parked on the courthouse’s north end by mid-June, providing a temporary home for two new courtrooms and an expansion for other judicial offices."  The current 1954 era courthouse contains about 193,000 square feet of area.  The modular buildings, containing a pair of new courtrooms, add about 13,000 square feet to the courthouse, for a total of 206,000 square feet.  A recent master plan for the courthouse determined the county currently needs about 418,000 square feet of area to serve its present needs.  And that size will surely grow as Hidalgo County grows.  
The August 13 story discusses the preliminary planning taking place to create a new Hidalgo County courthouse:  "A plan to build a new county courthouse here inched forward Tuesday as the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court and the Edinburg City Council held a joint session to discuss funding the estimated $113 million project and to meet with representatives from an architecture firm contracted to draw preliminary plans for a high-rise courthouse."  McAllen based ERO Architects has been hired by the county to prepare a schematic design for a new courthouse that would be located in Edinburg, the county seat.   Of course, The Monitor notes that "The City of Edinburg is willing to contribute financially to prevent another city from doing to Edinburg what Edinburg did to the City of Hidalgo — stealing away the county seat by building a new courthouse."  Apparently, other cities in the county are interested in "hosting" the county seat.  The Monitor story highlights the issues related to public/private funding sources for the new courthouse that are just as difficult to solve as the design issues for the new building.  Similar discussions are taking placing in Travis County.

Regardless, the earliest a new Hidalgo County courthouse could be completed is 2018, according to The Monitor.  This gives me more than enough time to re-visit the Edinburg courthouse and photograph the modular buildings for an update to this website.

The Fall 2013 issue of Friends of Fondren,  a publication of Fondren Library at Rice University, includes a two-page spread titled "Texas Courthouses - Visit Them Online."  Many thanks to the Friends of Fondren, an organization I've been a member of for several years, for making this article possible.  With the library's permission, I am posting the two pages for your information.

The Texas Association of Counties publishes a magazine, "County."  In the current issue, there's a very positive article about 254TexasCourthouses.net, written by Contributing Writer Joel Nihlean.  Since it isn't available online at this time, I've included a copy below.  Readership of this website is up and publicity like this is one of the reasons.