Mills County Courthouse

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and here's how Duane's passing it along to you. Mills County came into being in 1887, and the citizens didn't waste much time getting to work. The very next year, they put up a county jail in Goldthwaite.

Then in 1889, Goldthwaite was chosen as the county seat, and an architect named Oscar Ruffini was brought in to design the first courthouse. That building rose up right here on this site and served the county from 1890 all the way through 1912. And then, well.

Fire. The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1912, which has a way of resetting the clock on everything a community built together. Now, some counties might have taken their time after a blow like that.

Mills County hired a noted San Antonio architect named Henry T. Phelps, and Phelps got to work. He chose the Classical Revival style for the new building, a three-story structure with a basement, built on a rectangular form, with a central ornamental pediment and fluted, engaged columns.

The Gordon-Jones Construction Company completed the work in 1913. So what you're looking at today is not just a courthouse. It's the second chapter.

The one this county had to write from the ashes of the first.

What the marker says

Mills County Courthouse Mills County was formed in 1887, and citizens built a county jail in Goldthwaite the following year. In 1889, Goldthwaite was chosen county seat, and Oscar Ruffini designed the first courthouse; it served at this site from 1890 through 1912, when it was destroyed by fire. The county hired noted San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps to design this courthouse, completed in 1913 by the Gordon-Jones Construction Company. Phelps chose the Classical Revival style for the three-story structure with basement, using a rectangular form, a central, ornamental pediment and fluted, engaged columns. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002