Las Moras Masonic Lodge Building

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's what this old building has been through. Now, some structures spend their whole lives doing just one thing. This one never got the memo.

Standing here in Brackettville, in Kinney County, this building went up between 1878 and 1879 as the first County-owned Courthouse Kinney County ever had. That is where most stories would start and finish. Not this one.

It served as that courthouse for thirty-two years. Thirty-two years of county business, of decisions made, of the machinery of local government turning over right inside these walls. Then 1911 comes around, and the Las Moras Masonic Lodge moves in and makes it their headquarters.

Now the Lodge itself had been chartered back in 1876, so by the time they took up residence here they were no young organization. They claimed the second floor, up where the light was good and the business was their own. But the ground floor, well, the ground floor had other plans.

From 1918 all the way to 1983, the U.S. Postal Service leased that space for the Brackettville Post Office. Think about that.

The Masons conducting their affairs upstairs, and down below, your letters and parcels moving through, decade after decade, right up until 1983. And somewhere in between all of that, the building also found time to serve as office space for Kinney County government departments. Courthouse.

Lodge hall. Post office. County offices.

One building, one corner of Brackettville, doing the work of four. Not every structure earns that kind of resume.

What the marker says

Built in 1878-1879 to serve as the first County-owned Courthouse for Kinney County. This structure served that purpose for thirty-two years. In 1911 it became the headquarters of the Las Moras Masonic Lodge, which was chartered in 1876. While the Lodge used the second floor, the ground floor was leased to the U.S. Postal Service for the Brackettville Post Office from 1918 to 1983. Over the years the building has also served as office space for Kinney County government departments.