Leakey served as the county seat of Edwards County from 1883 to 1891, when a vote moved the seat to Rocksprings. Real County, named for businessman and State Senator Julius Real, was organized in April 1913 from parts of Edwards, Kerr, and Bandera counties, with Leakey designated as the county seat and a temporary building erected on the square. Disputes over the county seat site continued for several years, leading Judge D. D. Thompson, after his election in 1917, to begin planning a permanent courthouse. Voters approved bonds for the project, financed through Hanover National Bank of New York. Architect H.A. Reuter designed the 1918 courthouse, McCreary and Schott served as contractors, oral history credits a local builder known as "Scotty" Archibald with a significant contribution, and E.F. Vanderbilt was construction superintendent. Built of native limestone quarried from Tucker Hollow near the site, the Classical Revival building has a fortress-like facade, rusticated limestone bands laid in regular courses with quicklime bonding, and a stone pediment with simple cornice topped by a standing seam metal roof. Renovations and additions in 1978 transformed the original doors into large central windows with flat arch and transoms, and the building remains the center of Real County government.