Georgetown High School Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some buildings just sit there. Four walls, a roof, done.

But every once in a while, a building carries so much history in its bones that you have to stop and pay attention. The Georgetown High School Building is one of those. It went up in 1923 and 1924, right there on the original site of Southwestern University.

Think about that. The same ground that held a university now holding the high school. That's a lot of learning soaked into one piece of Texas earth.

The man behind the design was Charles H. Page, an architect out of Austin, and he did not come to play it safe. Page reached all the way to Spanish Colonial Revival for his inspiration, and what he put on that corner was something Georgetown had never seen before.

The entryway alone stops you cold. It's Baroque, the real deal, dressed in cast stone detailing with motifs of shells, flowers, urns, and garlands. Not exactly what you'd expect when you're just trying to find your locker before first bell.

That building served as Georgetown High School for over fifty years. Generations of kids walked under those garlands, past those carved shells, and straight into whatever their futures had waiting. Then in the 1940s, somebody decided the building needed a little more room to grow, and a gymnasium went up on the back.

The stories that gymnasium alone could tell. Over fifty years of Friday nights, of squeaking sneakers, of halftime pep talks. The building is still standing right there in Georgetown, Williamson County, and it has earned every year it's been on this earth.

What the marker says

Built in 1923-24 on the original site of Southwestern University, this structure served as Georgetown High School for over fifty years. Designed by Austin architect Charles H. Page and exhibiting influences of the Spanish Colonial Revival style of architecture, the building features a Baroque entryway with cast stone detailing that includes motifs of shells, flowers, urns, and garlands. A gymnasium was added to the back of the building in the 1940s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1988