Lee County Courthouse (Texas No. 39)

I discovered one of the prettiest little courthouses in Texas on my Central Texas tour in June.  It's another jewel designed by J. Riely Gordon, the master courthouse architect, and was built in 1897, replacing an earlier structure which of course was destroyed by fire, as so many original buildings were.  Unlike his usual Victorian stone designs, Gordon chose red brick and a Romanesque Revival style for this one.  It sits a block from the main street in Giddings on a small knoll, placed with just a bit of prominence to make it a commanding presence in town.

Lee County was named after General Robert E. Lee, and the county seat of Giddings is a little town of 6,000 residents 55 miles east of Austin.  Lee County is home to several towns with most interesting names, including Blue, Beaukiss, Dime Box, and Old Dime Box.  Tomorrow I'll show you a couple other interesting places I found in Giddings.  Hopefully, that is.  My mother has been suffering with rapidly progressive dementia and life has been a challenge.  I spend most of my time these days caring for her and keeping her safe.  If any of you have any good reading material for taking care of elderly parents with failing mental capacities, please let me know.

The Churches of Bartlett

One of my missions on my trip through Central Texas was to find some of the beautiful churches in the area. Of course, I was looking for the painted churches but unfortunately I was unable to see those so another visit will have to be planned to take an organized tour.  But as I drove through the little town of Bartlett, I knew I had come across the mother lode!

My first encounter was the old First Presbyterian Church above.  It actually had a realtor's for sale sign with the appended sign of "Sale Pending."  I'd love to know who the new owner will be and what their plans are for this historic building.  I've always been rather fascinated by the idea of living in an old church.  Wouldn't it be fun to climb into the tower and ring the bell!

There is an historical marker on the exterior wall of the Presbyterian Church telling those who take the time to stop and read it that the congregation was originally established in 1875 on Indian Creek.  The sanctuary on this building was erected in 1899.

Just a few blocks down the same street was this beautiful but boarded-up Gothic church with those fabulous windows.  On a Google map of Bartlett it indicates this is a Methodist church.  A picture of this church taken in 2005 before it fell into disrepair is included in the information about Bartlett on the Texas Escapes website so I wonder what has happened to this beautiful lady in the intervening seven years.

This is by far my favorite photo of the entire trip.  The sign over the sanctuary door says it's a Methodist church but the sign to the right of the stairs on the left side of the photo which includes information about services and times indicates it is now a Pentecostal church.

The last two photos were processed using Topaz Adjust Spicify filter.  It is my favorite photo processing method because it really enhances clouds and building details.

Bartlett, population 1800, lies in two counties, Williamson and Bell.  Once a thriving town with over 100 businesses, it started declining in the 1930s with the Great Depression and the bankruptcy of the railroad which ceased operation.  The population has increased by 208 people in the past 11 years.

Walburg Barns

The Friendly Little Church in the Valley

St. Peter Lutheran Church

Walburg, Texas

There seems to be some controversy over the spelling of this little town, Wahlburg or Walburg.  I decided to go with the Texas Historical Association and spell it Walburg.  

My greatest successes during my trip to Central Texas were the photographs of churches.  I've shown you a couple and there are more to come.  Walburg is just down the road from New Corn Hill in Williamson County.  This tiny little village has two active Lutheran churches, both established in the 1880s.  The present building was constructed in 1930.  Many articles from the original church were used in this "modern" structure, including the windows in the chancel (the space around the altar).  The congregation has become known as "The Friendly Little Church in the Valley."  

Following is what the Texas Historical Association has to say about Walburg:  By the 1890s Walburg was a judicial seat and a shipping point, with a physician, a drugstore, a blacksmith, a shoemaker, banking facilities, and a cotton gin.  The town's estimated population rose from 16 in 1890 to 102 in 1904 and 200 in 1925.  A rapid increase to 400 residents was reported in 1929, but the population returned to 200 by 1933.  From 1945 through 1990 the estimated population remained stable at 250.  Ethnic groups in the area include German, Wendish, Czechoslovakian, Austrian, and Swiss.  Commercial activity has declined significantly since the 1970s.  Walburg reported eight businesses in 1976 but only two in 1984.  In 2000 the population was 250 with eight businesses.  

I only saw the two Lutheran churches and a German bar when I went through Walburg so I must presume it has continued to decline. 

Morris Mansion

Bastrop, Texas

I saw many beautiful Victorian houses on my trip through Central Texas.  This one in Bastrop was built in 1888 for B.D. Orgain, a prominent banker, attorney, and civic leader.  The house was designed by his wife, Drucilla Johnston Orgain, an assistant teacher at the Colorado Institute in Bastrop.  Intricate detailing and fishscale shingles complete the fashionable exterior.  The interior woodwork is pine, cherry, maghony, and walnut.  Today the Morris Mansion is a bed and breakfast in Bastrop's historic area.

Calvary Cemetery - Granger, Texas

Calvary Cemetery, a mile outside of Granger, is a Catholic Cemetery whose residents are primarily of Czech ancestry.  The land for the cemetery was donated by John and Eva Tobolka in 1893.

My research into angelic statuary in Texas cemeteries had told me there was a beautiful angel residing at Calvary, so that was the reason I searched the place out.  There was supposedly another angel located in a separate cemetery but I was unable to find it.  Many of the tombstones have inscriptions written in Czech and I was unable to read any of them since I was unfamiliar with even the alphabetic symbols which is a version of Latin script.  The blooming trees in both this and the previous photos are mimosa.

This is corn country and the cemetery was literally surrounded by corn fields on all four sides with the road actually bifurcating the property into two sections.

Backtracking my way returning to Granger, SS. Cyril and Methodius looks like it is directly across the road from this large corn silo and water tower, although the two are actually separated by quite some distance.

The Sleepy Town of Granger

I had few expectations when I drove through the little town of Granger, although I had on my map to find the beautiful Catholic church of Saints Cyril and Methodius and also a notation to check out the City Hall building, although darned if I can find those Internet references now that I go back and look for them.  I had to be tipped off somehow.  My first thoughts as I arrived in Granger was that it was a dying town divided harshly in halves by the railroad tracks.  I since have learned that the Czechs lived on the west side and the Anglos lived on the east.  The entire area of Central Texas was the center of a large Czech Moravian immigrant population and the influences are still very apparent today.  All you have to do is visit a local cemetery and see the names on the headstones to see the Czech ancestry.  The Czechs brought Catholicism with them to Texas, along with some Protestant denominations such as Lutheranism.  In Granger up until the 1980s there was still a Czech-language newspaper and they even had Czech schools well into the 20th century.  Saints Cyril and Methodius was built in 1916 but it's not the only spectacular in building in town.  I opted to take a photo of the side of the church rather than the front because of the confluence of electrical lines!

This fabulous Victorian structure serves as Granger's City Hall.  Since I couldn't find that earlier reference I did a search of Texas Historical Markers and discovered that this building, erected in 1908-1909, originally housed the Farmers State Bank which closed in 1926.  It has been the City Hall since 1929.  An architectural hybrid of the late 19th century Victorian era, it exhibits influences of Italianate, Moorish, and Romanesque design styles.  It is one of the few remaining buildings that reflect Granger's propserous economy during the early 20th century.

Today Granger only has about 1400 residents.  There are stone lions up and down the main street.  You guessed it.  The Granger school mascot is the Lions!  Granger is located in Williamson County and is about 50 miles northeast of Austin.  I did not visit Austin on this trip.  That's a three-day trip by itself!

Tomorrow we'll take a look at one of Granger's predominantly Czech Catholic cemeteries.

P.S.  I so loved all the dramatic skies that I encountered on this day of my road trip.  They certainly enhanced my photographic experience.

Fayette County Courthouse (Texas No. 38)

The Fayette County Courthouse in La Grange  is another masterpiece of architect J. Reily Gordon, Texas' most notable designer of courthouses.  Built in 1891 at a cost of $96,000 this beauty was refurbished in 2004.  The Romanesque Revival style building was constructed of four native stones, Belton white limestone, blue sandstone quarried at nearby Muldoon, Red Pecos sandstone for the decorative horizontal mouldings, and pink Burnet granite which was used in the columns.  Gordon designed 18 Texas courthouses.  In 1984 12 were still standing and 10 were still serving their original purpose.  His most important structure built outside of Texas is the Arizona State Capitol, designed for the territorial government in 1898.

Fayette County was named after the Marquis de la Fayette, the French nobleman who became an American Revolutionary War hero, and the county seat of La Grange was named after his French estate in France.  "La Grange" translates as "The Meadows."

I had read that there were gargoyles on the courthouse and to be sure to look for them under the clock tower.  I couldn't see them with the naked eye and I used my little Nikon 42X zoom camera to take a super closeup directly under the clock but unfortunately there were no gargoyles in sight.  I discovered by zooming in on some of the photos later on my computer that the gargoyles - more correctly, griffins - can be found at the first horizontal bar under the clock on the tower.  You will see one's head and neck protruding almost like a small apostrophe on the left.  Unfortunately, I was too far away to be able to see any detail even with very close cropping.  Hopefully one day I'll return to La Grange and I'll know where to look for a photo!  I hope to return to this area to photograph more courthouses and also the Painted Churches of Central Texas (more on those gems later).

This photo shows the pink Burnet granite columns quite well.  If you'll look back at the previous photo, you should be able to spot the griffin in the next section below these columns  There are four of these creatures on each of the corners of the tower and I believe they are all different.

Fayette County and the surrounding area was a major site of German and Czech settlement because the rolling hills and forests are reminiscent of their homelands.  Even today the German and Czech influences on the area remain strong.

Outside La Grange is the location of the real Chicken Ranch, which was the inspiration for the hit stage musical play in 1979 - as well as the 1982 movie - The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

La Grange is located about halfway between Houston and Austin and has a population of nearly 5,000.

La Grange, Fayette County, Texas

Downtown La Grange is a typical Texas town built around a courthouse on a square:  historic buildings of beautiful brickwork and stone.

For all you quilters out there, there is the Texas Quilt Museum.  You can kick my butt right now because I DID NOT go inside.  I'm not an aficionado of quilts (although I own a museum-quality quilt which I inherited and a first place Texas county fair blue ribbon quilt.  They're both in a storage facility baking in Arizona). You must remember that I was on a quest to find historic 1890s courthouses, not quilts!

I did however spend some time walking through Grandmother's Flower Garden next to the Quilt Museum which was planted to depict a typical turn-of-the-century town garden in La Grange and Fayette County.

Tomorrow, the piece de resistance:  the Fayette County Courthouse!

High Hopes

Ever had high hopes of what you'll find when you go to new places?    I think we all do.  Whenever I go on a road trip here in Texas I always do a bit of research in advance to spot the places and things I might have an interest in.  My hopes were somewhat dashed on my recent three-day trip into Central Texas when I visited what I had expected to be a photo-rich area in Brenham.  It's one of those touristy places that everyone visits and talks about all the time.  I for one couldn't figure out what all the hype was about.  I could only find perhaps two places on the Internet that I thought would be worthwhile visiting, seeing that I'm interested in historic places, courthouses, churches, and the like, but I figured surely once I got there I'd change my mind.  I even had reservations to stay for the evening, although I knew I'd probably arrive around noon.  After driving through the downtown area and finding absolutely nothing I thought my camera would find rewarding, I decided not to take the time to tour the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory (after all, I didn't want the possibility of overeating some of the best ice cream outside of homemade that exists on this earth).  My efforts were at least soothed by finding this wonderful administration building on the primary campus of Blinn University.  Would you believe it's the ONLY picture I took in the whole town?  Yes, my friends, truth be told, I blew out of Brenham about as fast as I blew in, making another almost 60 miles before I finally settled down for the evening in historic Bastrop where that evening and the next morning, I took enough pictures to make up for the dearth of photo ops in Brenham.

However, I must say that this building at Blinn is absolutely gorgeous!  Blinn is Texas' premier "transfer" college - meaning it's a two-year school and its students go on to further education at some of the state's other top universities.  Blinn was started in 1883 and has an enrollment of over 18,000 students on four campuses (or is that campi?), the original and largest being located at Brenham.  A whopping 65 percent go on to fulfill baccalaureate degrees at Texas A&M, one of Texas' tier-1 universities and the state's first public institution of higher learning.

Sunrise on a Red-Roofed Barn

Near Kennard, Texas

Grimes County Courthouse (Texas No. 37)

One of the most visually pleasing courthouses in Texas is the Grimes County Courthouse in Anderson.  This was my first stop on my road trip a few weeks ago into Central Texas and I was definitely not disappointed. This gorgeous old building was constructed in either 1891 or 1893 - there seems to be some dispute among the authorities.  Of Italianate design it is built of hand-molded brick with native stone trim.  It includes the original vault which survived the first two courthouses in the county.  Renovated in 2002, it has withstood two fires and was host to a trial of a member of the Clyde Barrow-Bonnie Parker gang back in the 1930s who vowed he would see the court in infernal regions!

There is no designated parking around the courthouse.  In fact, the county judge is the sole official to have a reserved parking space and that happens to be located across the street at a small office building.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Anderson is it is most likely the smallest county seat in the Texas.  In 2009 its population was counted as a mere 280!  No wonder the place was dead on the Saturday morning that I buzzed through.  The only other living, breathing thing I encountered in town was the little dog in the photo below who seemed to be the town mascot, patroling the street (that's singular, mind you).  The courthouse sits on a small knoll at the end of the only city block.

I parked and walked through the town and admired some of the antiques sitting outside an antique shop, including this Norge wringer washing machine.  I remember when my grandmother got her first washer.  It looked similar to this one - without the rust, of course - and my grandpa had enclosed a portion of the back porch to accommodate the washing machine and to also build a bathroom, complete with a toilet and tub.  There was no sink.  They simply used an old wooden dresser with a ceramic pitcher and bowl for hand washing!  Of course, the bathroom and the space for the washing machine took the place of the two-seater swing that had sat for years on the porch.  With each modernization comes a certain loss of the past.

This Land Is Your Land

"The Gulf Stream Waters"

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California, to the New York island

From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters

This land was made for you and me

Chorus from This  Land Is Your Land

By Woody Guthrie

Elgin Charm

Another delightful little city I encountered on my road trip through central Texas was Elgin.  Only 19 miles from Austin, it has a population of 8,000, although I wouldn't have thought it could top 2,000.  It is part of the Austin metro complex, and the most popular bumper sticker in town reads "Enjoy Austin, live in Elgin."

The Texas legislature named Elgin as the Sausage Capital of Texas and four sausage companies still call Elgin home.  It also has the moniker of Brick Capitol of the Southwest due to the presence of three brickyards during the mid-20th century, two of which are still in operation.  The wide brick streets welcome its many visitors.

The Nofsinger House, now Elgin's City hall, was built in 1906 by Dr. I.B. Nofsinger and his wife Mary of red brick from one of the local kilns.  Mary, a pharmacist, designed the Queen Anne style home.

The Elgin Post Office houses a lovely WPA mural painted in 1940 by artist Julius Woeltz.  The post office is so tiny I had to stand at one end and look up to even focus my camera on this mural entitled "Texas Farm."  It reminds me very much of the works of Depression-era artist Thomas Hart Benton.

The entry door to the Post Office is this stylized metal-fabricated eagle.

Bastrop County Courthouse (Texas No. 36)

The Bastrop County Courthouse in Bastrop, Texas, was built in 1883, although it certainly doesn't look like most 1890's courthouses in Texas.  The building was modernized in 1923 and the original red brick and stone structure was covered with plaster and the dome was shortened.

It was a rather gray morning in Bastrop and I got caught in a rain shower while trying to get a good photo.  All those pecan trees, which are very prevalent around Texas courthouses, tend to hide the building.  When the rain came I took refuge under one of those giant trees and tried to wait it out until the shower subsided, but eventually thunder erupted and I figured I wasn't very safe under a tree out in the open, so I made a run for it.  It's been a long time since I ran anywhere!

A copper cap was added to the dome on the clock tower during the 1923 remodel.

Adjacent to the courthouse and now connected by a second-floor walkway is the old Bastrop County Jail.  Constructed in 1891 the jail is now a museum.

Bastrop, the county and the city, are named for Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop.  He was actually a commoner named Philip Hendrik Nering Bogel who was wanted for embezzlement in his native country of the Netherlands.  An early Dutch settler, Baron de Bastrop assisted Stephen F. Austin in obtaining land grants in Texas.

The city of Bastrop is about 30 miles southeast of Austin and is part of the greater Austin metropolitan area.  Its population has almost doubled in the last 40 years. Residents now number over 7,000.