DUANE
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Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the Milam County Courthouse. Now, this is the fourth structure to serve that purpose in Milam County. The fourth.
Which means three others came before it, and they each had their day and gave way to something grander. The one standing today got its start on July 4, 1891, when the local Masonic Lodge laid the cornerstone. Independence Day.
You pick a more fitting occasion to plant the foundation stone of a county's seat of justice, I'll wait. The man who drew it up was architect A. O.
Watson, out of Austin, and Watson had a vision. This was not going to be some plain rectangular box of a building. The courthouse featured a Second Empire style roof, and sitting right up top was a cupola, and inside that cupola was a four-sided clock.
Four sides. You could read the time from any direction you were coming from. Now, that clock and that roof, they had a long run.
But in 1938, the Federal Works Progress Administration came in with a renovation project, and when they were done, the clock was gone and the roof had been altered. Whether that sat well with everyone in Milam County is a matter the marker leaves to your imagination. What the marker does say is this: as the center of county government for over a century, the courthouse stands as a significant part of Milam County history.
Fourth in line, cornerstone laid on the Fourth of July, still standing. Some things earn their place.
What the marker says
This is the fourth structure to serve as the Milam County Courthouse. The local Masonic Lodge laid the cornerstone for the building on July 4, 1891. Designed by architect A. O. Watson of Austin, the courthouse at one time featured a Second Empire style roof and a cupola with a four-sided clock. The clock was removed and the roof altered in a 1938 renovation project by the Federal Works Progress Administration. As the center of county government for over a century, the courthouse stands as a significant part of Milam County history.