San Saba County Courthouse - San Saba, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 31° 11.717 W 098° 43.019
14R E 526963 N 3451278
The San Saba County Courthouse (1911) in San Saba, Texas, is a well-preserved and intact brick, stucco and sandstone Classical Revival building.
Waymark Code: WMY0P8
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/28/2018
Views: 5
Texas Historic Site Atlas
Third Courthouse, 1911 - After a false start in May 1909, the commissioners considered building a new courthouse in the late winter of 1909. In January 1910, no doubt spurred by the coming rail line, the San Saba Chamber of Commerce put out a large mailing to 1,200 voters in the county asking their opinions about a new courthouse. According to the San Saba Star, "The returns are coming in and so far a large majority are in favor of the proposition." At their meeting on Feburary 19, the commissioners set an election for April 9 to consider $75,000 worth of bonds to build a new courthouse. Voters approved the bonds by a count of 653 to 526.
Several architects and builders responded to the county's solicitation to design the new courthouse, and on June 29 the commissioners looked in detail at two finalists: the firms of Churchill & White of Fort Worth, and Chamberlain and Company of Birmingham, Alabama. On the advice of local architect and builder Walter R. Smith, the court selected Walter Chamberlain's design. Chamberlain and Company had recently designed the Deaf Smith County courthouse in Hereford in 1910, and the commissioners may have been familiar with that Classical Revival stmcture. According to the San Saba Star the Chamberlain Company "makes a specialty of court houses, having designed over 60 of them and have done work in ten states. Chamberlain worked quickly, and on July 25 the commissioners accepted his plans and authorized solicitation for bids.
January 6, 1911 saw the cornerstone set on the northeast corner of the building under the directions of San Saba Lodge No. 612, A. F. and A. M. The Masons placed various fratemal symbols in an iron box that went inside the stone, and the commissioners and county officers also offered memorabilia, including "pecans, coins, key rings and family records.
San Saba is one of the 100 extant Texas courthouses built between 1900 and 1940 grounded in classical styles. Domes, grand columns, and pediments evoked a classical era rooted in interpretations of Roman classical styles. The Texas rendition of the style has been dubbed "Texas Renaissance" by Willard B. Robinson (1983) and "Academic Eclecticism" by Jay Henry (1993).