There is no more eloquent expression of a civilization’s economic progress and cultural maturity than its civic architecture. The historic courthouses of Texas testify to the independence and fortitude of a resolute people determined to wrench order out of the devastation of Civil War and to enforce justice on a frontier advanced beyond the reaches of law. During the late nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth – termed by author Michael Andrews “the Great Age of Texas Courthouses – county courthouses rose as the predominant symbols of progress and stability, optimism and robust community pride.
Historic Texas Courthouses gives attention to 100 landmark courthouses in Texas. Architects of the past become living people to the reader. Author Michael Andrews delivers an education in the elements of architectural style. Details about the artisans and their materials and methods are recorded. Stories abound of the spirited competition by towns for the trophy of being designated “county seat.”