DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Kinney County Courthouse. Now, before we talk about this courthouse — and we will get to that courthouse, because it is something — you have to understand that the ground it sits on has been carrying human stories for thousands of years. Thousands.
Spanish expeditions were already passing through this country by 1535, and they kept coming back, century after century, which tells you something about the pull this land had on people even when it had no business pulling anybody. The Spanish tried planting a Franciscan mission here in 1775. Didn't take.
Then a fellow named Dr. John Charles Beales gave settlement a run in 1834. That didn't take either.
This corner of Texas had a way of humbling ambition. And yet. In 1850, the state carved Kinney County right out of Bexar County, hardships and all.
Named it for Henry Lawrence Kinney — early settler, adventurer, a man whose reputation the marker summarizes in just those two words, which somehow feels exactly right. Two years after the county was formed, the U.S. Army opened Fort Clark as a frontier outpost.
And that same year, 1852, local inhabitants established a settlement they called Brackett — named for Oscar B. Brackett, who set up a stage stop, a freight office, and a dry goods store to service the stage line running all the way from San Antonio to El Paso. That is a long stage line.
Oscar Brackett wanted to be ready for it. Here is the part that takes a moment to sink in. Kinney County existed on paper in 1850, but it did not formally organize for twenty-one years.
Twenty-one years of being a county without acting like one. When officials finally did meet for the first time, in 1873, they met in Brackett's home. The town had grown enough by then to be called Brackettville, and it was chosen as the county seat.
Business moved from Brackett's home to the Kartes and Co. building, and meetings continued there until 1879, when the county finally built its first courthouse. That 1879 building served the county faithfully. Eventually it found second life housing a post office and a Masonic lodge — not a bad retirement for a courthouse.
But by 1911, Kinney County was ready to step up. This courthouse — the one the marker is planted in front of — was designed by L.L. Thurmon and Co. of Dallas, and built by Falls City Construction Co. out of Louisville, Kentucky.
What they delivered is a study in Beaux Arts Classicism. There is a central bell tower, and whatever detailing you see on that tower, you will find it again on the octagonal corner towers and on the columned entryways — everything in conversation with everything else. The brick is buff, warmed with D'Hanis red brick banding and corner quoins that give the whole building a quiet authority.
And up in that bell tower, keeping time over Brackettville, sits a Seth Thomas clock. The county commissioners who chose this design were making a statement. After thousands of years of human habitation, after failed missions and failed settlements, after twenty-one years of being a county that couldn't quite get organized, after a first courthouse that ended up as a post office — they wanted something that would stand.
And after some alterations over the years, it still demonstrates the massing, the style, and the design those early commissioners selected. The Seth Thomas clock is still up there. Still keeping time.
Out here in Kinney County, where time has always had a way of moving on its own terms.
What the marker says
Kinney County Courthouse Human inhabitation of Kinney County began thousands of years ago. Spanish expeditions through the area began in 1535 and continued throughout subsequent centuries. An attempt at establishing a Franciscan mission in 1775 failed, as did settlement by Dr. John Charles Beales in 1834. Despite the hardships found in the area, Kinney County was carved out of Bexar County in 1850, two years before the U.S. Army opened Fort Clark as a frontier outpost. That same year, in 1852, local inhabitants established the Brackett settlement, named for Oscar B. Brackett who set up a stage stop, freight office and dry goods store to service the stage line from San Antonio to El Paso. Named for early settler and adventurer Henry Lawrence Kinney, Kinney County did not formally organize for 21 years; officials first met in Brackett's home in 1873. Brackettville, as the town had come to be called, was chosen as the county seat. Subsequent meetings were held in the Kartes and Co. building until 1879, when the county's first courthouse was built. The county used the 1879 building, which later housed a post office and Masonic lodge, until 1911. That year, the county first occupied this courthouse, designed by L.L. Thurmon and Co. of Dallas. Falls City Construction Co. of Louisville, Kentucky, served as General Contractor. The Kinney County Courthouse exhibits Beaux Arts Classicism. Detailing seen on the central bell tower is repeated on the octagonal corner towers and columned entryways. Buff brick is accented with D'Hanis red brick banding and corner quoins. The Seth Thomas clock in the bell tower completes the building, which, after some alterations, still demonstrates the massing, style and design selected by the early county commissioners. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2003