DUANE
Duane's take
The marker on the Hamilton County Courthouse is the one telling this story tonight, and I'll do my best to honor it. Now, before we get to the grand limestone building standing here today, you need to understand what came before it — and friend, what came before it was a whole lot of improvising. Hamilton County's government did its business in stores.
In a rustic school. In a former livery stable. In a two-story building where the top floor was especially designed for a courtroom.
And yes — briefly, gloriously, in a saloon. You couldn't make that up if you tried. The county was just figuring things out as it went, hanging its judicial shingle wherever there was room.
But here's where the story gets a particular kind of Texas dramatic: fire had opinions about those early courthouses. It razed two of them. Gone.
Then Hamilton County finally built its first permanent courthouse in 1878 — permanent, mind you — and in 1886, that one burned too. The land was not making this easy. Now, I should also mention that in those days, outlaws were so numerous in the area that guards had to be hired just to protect the visiting judges.
Think about that for a moment. The judges needed a security detail just to show up to work. Hamilton County was not a quiet place to practice law.
But 1887 brought something different. A structure of native limestone, quarried two miles east of Hamilton — solid, deliberate, built to last. And last it did, standing unchanged all the way until it was remodeled in 1931.
After all those stores and stables and saloons and fires and hired guns, Hamilton County finally had a courthouse that fire and outlaws and time itself couldn't easily argue with.
What the marker says
Before era of this impressive courthouse, Hamilton County's government was housed in stores, a rustic school, a former livery stable, a 2-story building with top floor especially designed for a courtroom, and briefly in a saloon. Fire razed two of the early, improvised courthouses. First permanent one, built 1878, also burned in 1886. In those days, outlaws were so numerous that guards were hired to protect visiting judges. This 1887 structure of native limestone, quarried 2 miles east of Hamilton, remained unchanged until it was remodeled in 1931.