A Texas Road Trip 3.6 - Hamilton County Courthouse (Texas No. 76) and a Post Office Mural

The next stop on this third day of a tour through south central and central Texas found me in the small town of Hamilton to see its 1886 county courthouse in the city of Hamilton.  This courthouse had not even been on my list of historic courthouses to photograph until just a few weeks before this trip because the photos I had seen of it online previously showed no interest to me, just a dirty, boxy building.  Little did I know that the Hamilton courthouse was in the process of undergoing a restoration which restored its original clock tower which had been removed in a remodel in 1931. This Second Empire style building is constructed of limestone, a very popular material for this area of the state during the late 19th Century.

Hamilton is one of the few cities in Texas which is home to not only a beautiful courthouse but a Post Office mural, another love of mine.  "Texas Rangers in Camp" is the title of this 1942 fresco secco (tempera on plaster) painted by Ward Lockwood for the Hamilton Post Office.  A group of Texas Rangers is portrayed relaxing around a campfire. One plays a fiddle, one a guitar, another sings and the fourth simply enjoys the music as he cleans his rifle.

I had a rather lengthy conversation with the current postmaster and a clerk about the mural and both were very knowledgeable about  its origin and its artist.  The postmaster has a file with original correspondence between the postmaster of the early 1940s and the artist concerning the painting of the artwork.  Lockwood was one of the founding members of the Taos Art Colony and established the art department at the University of Texas in Austin.

Across the street from the post office was this beautiful Victorian home which called to my camera.  I noticed a Texas state historical marker near the door but I have been unable to find any information online about this lovely home.  You may notice that the ceiling of the porch overhang is painted a sky blue color.  It is believed that this deters dirt daubers, a small wasp which is common in Texas, from building their nests.

Hamilton is a city of 3,100 about 120 miles southwest of Dallas/Fort Worth, 240 miles northwest of Houston, and 165 miles west of my home in Garrison.