Lavaca County Courthouse - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

An informal history of the city and its courthouse, per the Texas Escapes website:

"[...] This particular courthouse wasn't always the seat of justice for Lavaca County. In fact, from 1846 to 1852, the seat changed several times between Petersburg and Hallettsville. Initially, court was held in a log house in Petersburg. That didn't last long, so from 1847 until 1851, court was held in Josiah Dowling's house. I guess that way Mrs. Dowling had plenty of help around the house.

A courthouse was built in 1851, using all the money in the county treasury. This was all fine and good (enough) until 1852 when it came time to select the permanent county seat. That was when Hallettsville got into the mess.

The Hallett settlement was initially in Colorado County. A road was built between Columbus to Hidesville, the name given to this settlement because of the buffalo hide used as the cabin door. [...] This settlement had its own post office, and Mrs. Hallett ran a store out of her house. Then the settlement became part of La Baca County, a new county created in 1842. Hidesville became Hallettsville.

In 1897, it was time for another courthouse. The old building was demolished, and the new Heiner courthouse was slowly erected. The crowning jewel, the seven feet tall Seth Thomas clock in the tower, complete with arches, was put in one year late. The courthouse was well furnished, including every room having its own hat rack and spittoon.

In 1913, some folks who had a little too much time on their hands figured out that Hallettsville had thirteen letters in its name, had a population of 1300, had 13 newspapers, and to balance things out, had an equal amount of churches and saloons, at thirteen each. Ripley's Believe It Or Not cleverly called it the "13" city. I always heard that "thirteen" was an unlucky number. But with a city that's known for its kolaches and two Texas halls of fame, it's far from unlucky.

July 2001, Copyright Lou Ann Herda, Ed. D"

Marker Number: 3050 Marker Text: Fifth structure to serve as seat of justice for Lavaca, created originally as "La Baca", a judicial county, by Congress of Republic of Texas in 1842. Declared unconstitutional along with other judicial counties, it was created anew by first Legislature of State of Texas on April 6, 1846, and organized on July 13, 1846. Earliest courthouse was of logs, and for an interval after that one burned, court was held under a liveoak tree in old town of Petersburg. This is third courthouse on this site since county seat was moved to Hallettsville, 1852. Richardsonian in style, it is of Mineral Wells brown sandstone and has base and trim of Mills County grey stone. Eugene T. Heiner of Houston, noted for his public buildings, was the architect. Contractors A. T. Lucas and C. H. and J. Stadtler erected the structure in 1897-1899. Led by members of Hallettsville Schuetzen Verein, Silver Cornet Band, fire department, Sons of Hermann, and other orders, county dedicated the building July 4, 1899, with Judge P. H. Green giving the main address. Courthouse square was selected by Texas Society of Architects in 1970 for a restoration study. The courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. (1972)

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