Year Built: 1890/1997
Architect: W. C. Dodson
The Hill County Courthouse is located in Hillsboro, Texas.
The fourth courthouse for Hill County (organized in 1853) and the third one located in Hillsboro, this impressive landmark replaced a brick court building erected in 1874. Contractors Lovell, Miller and Hood of Brownsville built this rusticated limestone structure in 1890. Waco architect W. C. Dodson, who designed a number of public buildings, planned the modified French Second Empire styling. The three-story courthouse is topped by a seven-story clock tower. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1964
“A Texas version of the Second-Empire style, the Hillsboro courthouse is the tallest building in the county and can be seen for miles when ap-proaching the county seat from any direction. It is placed in the center of a typical Texas courthouee square with landscaped lawn and trees.
“The architect of the Hill County Courthouse was W. C. Dodson, listed as a Waco architect in the 1885 roster of Texas architects. Dodson also de-signed the Hood County Courthouse at Granbury in 1890, a courthouse that is almost identical to that of Parker County at Weatherford which was built in 1885 and was probably designed by Dodson. All three of the courthouses are of a Texas version of the French Second Empire style, all have identical central towers, and are otherwise closely related.
“The courthouse is three stories tall with a basement and attics. A tall central tower extends the total height of the building to seven stories. The exterior walls are of ivory colored rusticated limestone with banded dressed limestone pilasters edging all projecting corners, banded dressed limestone columns and bases, and dressed limestone trim around the windows, doors, and cornice.” From the National Register narrative
This courthouse is also similar to Dodson’s 1885 Anderson County courthouse, which was destroyed in a 1913 fire and not rebuilt.
On January 1, 1993, the Hill County courthouse was destroyed by a fire. Only the exterior masonry walls remained. The Dallas architectural firm of ArchiTexas was selected to design the reconstruction of this historic building. From their website:
“ARCHITEXAS completed a comprehensive post-fire courthouse reconstruction for Hill County in 1997. This ISTEA-funded project set a new standard for historic courthouse restorations and was the catalyst for the establishment of the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program (THCPP).”
Rather than bull-dozing the ruins of the historic courthouse and constructing a new building, the citizens of Hill County chose to honor their past by restoring the 1890 courthouse. A very good decision!
From the 254 Texas Courthouses Website.
