DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Comal County, Texas — and a courthouse with more lives than a barn cat. It starts in 1846, before there was any courthouse at all.
The county held its very first court session in the home of its county clerk — a man named Conrad Seabaugh. Just a man's house, a few chairs pulled around, and the law of the land trying to get comfortable. That worked for a while, the way improvised things do.
By 1849 the county had acquired actual courthouse facilities, but here's the thing about progress — it has a way of outgrowing its own shoes. Those facilities proved inadequate, and so in 1860 the county put up a two-story building on the southeast corner of the city plaza. An upgrade.
A statement. And then — well, then the years got to work on it. The building fell into disrepair.
And when something falls into disrepair in Texas, eventually somebody decides enough is enough. In 1898, Comal County turned to a man named J. Riley Gordon.
Famous Texas courthouse architect — and that reputation was not lightly earned. Gordon drew up a design with four entrances, one on each face of the building, because the original plan had the courthouse sittin' right at the center of the plaza. Then the county chose a corner lot instead.
A lesser architect might've gone back to the drawing board. Gordon's design, all four entrances and all, was retained anyway. I'll let you make of that what you will.
To build the thing, the county brought in Austin contractors Fischer and Lamie. The stone they used was quarried ten miles north of New Braunfels, off land owned by Edward Mandell House — a man the marker calls a Texas and United States statesman. That stone got shaped into something worth looking at.
A three-and-a-half-story Romanesque-style structure, with rounded pavilion entrances — a Gordon signature — and what the marker calls dramatic massing and superb detail in its stonework. It wasn't just functional. It was a declaration.
Then, between 1929 and 1931, a large stone jail addition went up, designed by a New Braunfels man named Jeremiah Schmidt. The courthouse kept evolving — interior and some exterior renovations came in 1966 and '67, and again in 1987. But through all of it, the bones of that 1898 building held.
The marker says this courthouse reflects New Braunfels's German heritage and the spirit of Comal County at the turn of the twentieth century. And when you stand in front of it — those rounded pavilion entrances, that stone quarried from Texas land, that design that refused to be compromised even when the site changed — you get the sense that some buildings are built to outlast the arguments about where to put them.
What the marker says
In 1846 Comal County held its first court session in the home of its county clerk, Conrad Seabaugh. Courthouse facilities acquired in 1849 proved inadequate and were replaced with a 2-story building at the southeast corner of the city plaza in 1860. The building fell into disrepair and in 1898 the county chose famous Texas courthouse architect J. Riley Gordon to design a new courthouse. Gordon's original design, incorporating four entrances compatible with the building's proposed location at the center of the plaza, was nevertheless retained when this corner lot site was chosen instead . Austin contractors Fischer and Lamie used stone quarried 10 miles north of New Braunfels on land owned by Texas/U.S.statesman Edward Mandell House to build this courthouse in 1898. The 3 1/2 story Romanesque-style structure features rounded pavilion entrances often employed by Gordon and includes dramatic massing and superb detail in its stone work. A 1929-31 large stone jail addition was designed by Jeremiah Schmidt of New Braunfels. The courthouse underwent considerable interior and minor exterior renovations in 1966-67 and 1987. The courthouse reflects New Braunfel's German heritage and the spirit of Comal County at the turn of the twentieth century. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1993