The old Victoria County Courthouse, unlike most of its sisters throughout the state, actually sits across the main square rather than in the middle. Victoria's square is known as DeLeon Plaza, named for Martin DeLeon, the Spanish empressario who founded and named the city. Victoria is one of the cities in Texas over which the six flags which have governed this land have truly flown, the Spanish flag, the French flag, the Mexican flag, the flag of the Republic of Texas, the flag of the United States of America, and the Confederate flag.
In the photo above, you can see a portion of the new (1967) Victoria County Courthouse to the right of the retired structure. The two buildings are connected by a walkway and today the only entrance to the historic courthouse is through the present courthouse.
There are plenty of places to rest on the plaza, which is shaded by beautiful ancient live oak trees. The red building in the foreground is the Rosebud Fountain and Grill. It's been there since 1910 as a drug store, a book store, a stationery store and a diner. This corner is considered to be the oldest drug store corner in the state, having been the site of a drug store since 1847.
Almost every courthouse in the South has a veterans monument honoring native sons who fought in the Civil War. Victoria has perhaps the most unique of those monuments, which typically depict a young boy in uniform carrying a rifle. This sculpture was crafted by noted artist Pompeo Coppini, who made an agreement with the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy that if they would let him design the statue it would be a more fitting tribute to the men who fought than any other Confederate statue in the state. He was paid $5,000 for his work which was completed and erected in 1912.
(NOTE: This is a photography blog and I make no comments of a political nature on any subject, or at least I don't intend to.)
The four streets surrounding DeLeon Plaza are filled with many restored 19th Century buildings.
Providing all that great shade are the many live oak trees, which are much older than the plaza itself. I was intrigued by the fact that a number of them have exposed root systems which have simply been surrounded by concrete to create walkways and curbs and show no evidence of having damaged any of the trees.
And who could resist taking a photo of young lovers relaxing and resting on a warm spring day in such a beautiful setting!
TOMORROW: The buildings of historic Victoria
8 comments:
a neat place full of history. love the twisted roots - of which it sounds fitting for the town.
i love the Rosebud building and our courthouse is like that, the historic connected to the new UGLY building. like those roots and the statue is really beautiful.
You have lots of great photos of this community. That root system for the tree is very interesting. I hope there are some more deep roots somewhere. That's such a big tree to have it's roots so close to the surface.
It's interesting that the only entrance to the old building is through the new one. Is the old one used for anything now?
I would not be able to resist taking the photo of the lovers. As a matter of fact, I have done just that a time or two.
Enjoying all this history about Victoria and I like the picture of the tree with the roots showing.
Hi Kathy, what wonderful history for Victoria and your sure got some great shots. Love the old buildings and I always enjoy to stop at an old drugstore. You captured an incredible photo of the tree and roots. Great monument stature too.
Thanks for sharing.
Hugs, cm
Victoria is a town I have not visited yet. Perhaps I should. That old Live Oak with its exposed roots is really something! We have stuff like that here, but not to that degree.
Love the old buildings.
Post a Comment