Refugio City Hall

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Now, every town worth its salt has got a building that says something about who it is, and Refugio, Texas is no different. Right there on the city's original public square, there stands a City Hall that's been watching over things since the mid-nineteen thirties.

The story of how it got there is the kind of thing that makes a good road-trip tale. During the administration of Mayor Leonard Jeter, the city set about erecting this municipal structure, construction running through nineteen thirty-five and into nineteen thirty-six. The man they brought in to design it was Irving H.

Dunbar, and he didn't just draw up any plain box of a building. No sir. Dunbar gave it the Spanish Colonial revival treatment, and you can see it plain as day if you pull up and look.

There's a tile roof up top, and out front there's an arcaded porch, the kind that invites you to slow down a little, which is advice worth takin anywhere in Texas. Now, building something ambitious in the nineteen thirties meant you needed help, and the city found it through the federal Public Works Administration, which provided financial assistance to make the whole thing possible. And when the job was done, Refugio didn't just quietly open the doors and call it a Tuesday.

On April twenty-ninth, nineteen thirty-six, they held a grand opening celebration, right there on that original public square. Some buildings just sit there. This one arrived with a party.

What the marker says

Located on the city's original public square, this muncipal structure was erected in 1935-36 during the administration of Mayor Leonard Jeter. Designed by Irving H. Dunbar and built with financial assistance from the federal Public Works Administration, it was dedicated in a grand opening celebration on April 29, 1936. Exhibiting elements of the Spanish Colonial revival style, the building features a tile roof and arcaded front porch.