Mason County Courthouse (Texas No. 63)

Constructed:  1909
Architectural Style:  Classical Revival, as reported by the site I usually use for Texas courthouse facts; Beaux Arts, as reported by the historical marker for the building
Materials:  Granite
Cost of Construction:  $39,796
Note:  Had I taken a photo from the side, the clock tower would have appeared much taller than it seems in this photo.  The reason for no photo from that angle is there were sprinklers going all over the lawn and although I was hot and sweaty I had my "good" camera and I didn't want to risk it!

Mason County was primarily settled by German immigrants in the 1850s.  Until the founding of Fort Mason by the U.S. War Department in 1851 as a front-line defense against Kiowa, Apache and Comanche attacks against white settlers, most people were afraid to live in this region.  After the building of the fort, some protection was offered and the people came.  In early 1861, after the start of the Civil War , the Confederacy surrendered the fort.  There were few Union, if any, troops in the area and the abandoned fort caused a return of unrest for early pioneers.  After the war federal troops once again occupied the fort but only for two years and it was eventually abandoned. This was rough territory and dangerous times for people in this part of the state, the stuff cowboys and Indians movies was made of!

The Mason County Jail sits behind the courthouse.  It is still the present day jail in Mason County, although you can see by the historical marker mounted to the right of the front door in the photograph (to the left of the door in reality) that the jail was built in 1894 of sandstone mined in the nearby hills. The first floor provided living quarters for the sheriff (and more than likely his family)  while the second floor housed cells.  It's probably no fun today to spend time in this jail.  I see a window air conditioner on the first floor but no signs of the same upstairs!  And it is HOT in Mason!

The county seat of Mason County is Mason.  Not so surprising to many but in Texas that's a rarity. Here in East Texas we have such things as Athens is the county seat of Henderson County, whereas Henderson is the county seat of Rusk County, whereas Rusk is the county seat of Cherokee County, and Crockett is the county seat of Houston County, while Ozona out in West Texas is the county seat of Crockett County and Houston is the county seat of Harris County.  Don't even ask about Austin and Austin County!  That disparity just goes on and on, but there are a small number of counties which bear the same name as their county seat.

Mason has a population of 2,00 and seems like a sleepy little town.  I had never heard of it until I became interested in historic courthouses.  It is 260 miles southwest of Dallas, 270 miles slightly northeast of Houston, 470 miles east of El Paso, and 340 miles west of my home near Garrison.   In other words, it's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.

On one side of the square across the street from the courthouse sits the Odeon Theater.  The old Model A (am I right about that, classic car aficionados?) was what drew my eye to this scene.

And this photo is for Birdman of pORTcITYdAILYpHOTO, who once asked me,"Aren't there any Lutheran churches in Texas," after I posted a plethora of pictures of Catholic churches.  On my way out of Mason toward Llano I came to a screeching halt when I saw St. Paul Lutheran Church, a small but spectacular building on the edge of town.  A historical marker says descendants of many of those original German settlers are members of this church.  The present building was constructed in 1905 from native stone. The building materials look remarkably similar to the jail.  Interesting and thought-provoking!