DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, this block in Corpus Christi has seen a whole lot of history stacked on top of itself, layer by layer, going all the way back to when Nueces County was a wild stretch of country covering most everything from Corpus Christi clear down to the Mexican border. And in 1853, the lawlessness out here got bad enough that the county decided it needed to do something about it — so they built a courthouse right on this block.
Three lots, purchased for three hundred dollars from the founder of Corpus Christi himself, Henry Lawrence Kinney. That's the kind of detail that makes you stop and think about just how young this place was. Then, sometime in the mid-1870s, they put up a second courthouse right beside the first one.
Two courthouses, side by side, like they couldn't quite let go of either one. But the story that really wants to be told is the one that came next. Under county Judge Walter F.
Timon, they set out to build something that would last. And in 1914, they finished it — a neo-classical structure that ran two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Now, the man who drew it up was Harvey L.
Page, an architect out of Washington, D.C., who had already put his name on the International and Great Northern Railroad station in San Antonio and a place called Laguna Gloria in Austin — home, the marker notes, of former Corpus Christi resident Clara Driscoll. So this wasn't some anonymous contractor who rolled into town. This was a man with a portfolio.
Six floors in all, and here's where it gets interesting. The first four held the courtrooms and offices, just what you'd expect. But those top two floors?
They were separated from the rest of the building by an air space — built that way on purpose, to cut out the noise — and that's where they kept the jail. Right up top, quiet as a church and twice as contained. The building also kept apartments for the jailer and other county officials, right there inside, until the 1950s.
In the 1930s and again in the 1960s, additions were made to the building. And through all of it, through the storms that almost leveled the city, hundreds of people came running here for shelter. This building held them.
That's the kind of thing a courthouse does when it's built right. By 1977, county offices had moved on to a new building. But for sixty-three years, this was the place where Nueces County kept its order, its people, and apparently a few of its officials tucked in for the night.
What the marker says
In 1853 lawlessness in Nueces County, which covered most of the area from Corpus Christi to the Mexican border, prompted the construction of the first county courthouse on this block. Three lots were purchased for $300 from Corpus Christi founder, Henry Lawrence Kinney (1814-1865). A second courthouse was built in the mid-1870's beside the first. Under the administration of county Judge Walter F. Timon (1872-1952), this neo-classical structure was completed in 1914 at a cost of $250,000. The architect, Harvey L. Page (1859-1934) of Washington, D.C., designed the International and Great Northern Railroad station in San Antonio and Laguna Gloria in Austin, home of former Corpus Christi resident Clara Driscoll. Additions were made to the buildings in the 1930's and 1960's. Courtrooms and offices were on the first four floors. The top two floors, separated from the rest of the building by an air space to eliminate noise, served as the jail. In addition to government offices, apartments were provided until the 1950's for the jailer and other county officials. During storms which almost leveled the city, hundreds of refugees sought shelter here. In 1977 county offices moved to a new courthouse building.