Atascosa County Courthouse

Atascosa County was created from Bexar County in 1856. Its first county seat was Navatasco, on land donated by Jose Antonio Navarro, and its first courthouse was a log cabin. The county seat moved to Pleasanton in 1858, where a frame courthouse was erected, followed by a second courthouse in 1868 and a third, a red rock structure, in 1885. After a special election moved the county seat to Jourdanton in 1910, county officers first worked in rented quarters. The Gordon-Jones Company began construction on a new courthouse the following year, and the building was completed in 1912. Designed by San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps (1881-1945), who also designed the Atascosa County Jail in 1915, the two-story brick building has identical entries on each side. Its Mission Revival-style details include curvilinear parapets and occasional Renaissance motifs, with cast-stone highlights, metal balustrades, and tile roofing. The corners are turned with three-story tower bays, each topped by an open belvedere. Later alterations replaced the original windows and installed an elevator opposite the original stairwell.

Jourdanton, Texas · United States