Llano County Courthouse

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how Duane tells it back to you. The Llano County Courthouse has stood on this ground through more than a little history, and the marker gives us the whole honest account. This is the fourth courthouse Llano County has had.

Fourth. Which means three others came before it, and you can let your imagination do what it wants with that. The one standing today was designed by an Austin architect named A.O.

Watson, and work on the structure began in 1892. One year later it was done. The contractors who built her were J.A. and G.H.

Wilson, out of Sulphur Springs, and by the look of what they left behind, those Wilson brothers did not cut corners. The exterior features detailing of sandstone, marble, and granite. Three different kinds of stone dressed up on the same building, which in courthouse terms is about as formal as it gets in Texas hill country.

At some point the courthouse was surrounded by an iron fence. That fence is gone now. Only the stone foundations remain, sitting quiet in the ground like a memory that won't quite leave.

Now here is where the story takes a turn toward the dramatic, because this building has met fire not once but twice. The interior was damaged by fire in 1932, and then, just when folks might have thought the worst was behind them, fire came again in 1952. The walls kept standing both times.

Watson's design, the Wilson brothers' stonework, that sandstone and marble and granite, held. Some buildings are just harder to kill than others, and this one seems to know it.

What the marker says

Designed by Austin architect A.O. Watson, this building is the fourth courthouse for Llano County. Work on the structure began in 1892 and was completed one year later. The contractors were J.A. and G.H. Wilson of Sulphur Springs. The courthouse was later surrounded by an iron fence, but only the stone foundations remain. Exterior styling of the building features detailing of sandstone, marble, and granite. Fires damaged the interior in 1932 and 1952. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980