Old Brazoria County Courthouse

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Old Brazoria County Courthouse. Angleton got its first permanent courthouse in 1897, one year after the city was chosen as the Brazoria County seat. Now, here's a detail that'll make you smile: the plans weren't even drawn up for this building.

They were originally drawn for the Matagorda County courthouse. Somebody looked at those blueprints, said close enough, and built the thing anyway. But they didn't just copy it straight, they enlarged it, made it their own.

Then, in 1927, the building went through extensive remodeling on top of that. By that point it had come a long way from whatever Matagorda County had in mind. Then came 1932, and a storm rolled through and did some structural damage.

The county's answer was to erect a brand new courthouse. But here's the thing about Brazoria County: they didn't just walk away from the old girl. They kept offices running inside those walls all the way into the 1970s.

Decades after a storm tried to put her down, people were still showing up to work there every morning. Some buildings just refuse to be finished with.

What the marker says

Angleton's first permanent courthouse was built in 1897, a year after the city was chosen Brazoria County seat. Constructed from plans originally drawn for the Matagorda County courthouse, the structure was enlarged and extensively remodeled in 1927. After the building suffered some structural damage in a 1932 storm, the county erected a new courthouse but maintained offices here until the 1970s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983