James Polk Johnson Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. Back in the early days of Johnson City, one man had the ambition to build something that could be just about everything a young Texas town might ever need. That man was James Polk Johnson, the founder of Johnson City himself, born in 1845 and gone by 1885.

He put up a building that would go on to outlast him by a good long while, and what happened inside those walls reads like a whole town's biography. Banks set up shop there. General stores.

Hotels, restaurants, business offices. Churches held their meetings inside. Community groups gathered.

At one point the place was serving as an opera house. An opera house, out on the Texas Hill Country. If you needed somewhere to be, chances are this building had a room for it.

Then 1890 rolled around, and Blanco County moved its county seat to Johnson City. The new seat needed a courthouse and a jail, and well, the James Polk Johnson building raised its hand. It stepped in as a temporary county courthouse and jail, which is quite a range for one structure, from opera performances to holding cells.

And the story doesn't stop there. Decades later, former president Lyndon Johnson maintained an office here, for a short time. One building, one founder's vision, a county seat, a president's desk.

James Polk Johnson was gone before most of it happened, but in Johnson City, his building kept right on working.

What the marker says

Built by Johnson City founder James Polk Johnson (1845-1885), this structure has housed a variety of businesses and served as a community gathering place. In addition to serving as a community hall, opera house, and meeting place for churches and community groups, the structure was occupied by such commercial enterprises as banks, general stores, hotels, restaurants, and business offices. When the Blanco County seat moved to Johnson City in 1890 this building became a temporary county courthouse and jail. Former president Lyndon Johnson maintained an office here for a short time. (1992)