Colorado County Courthouse Historic District

Marked by growth and significant changes, the second half of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century represent the most prosperous years in the history of Columbus. The structures located within the Colorado County Courthouse District are the legacy of this nineteenth - early twentieth-century development and indicate the manner in which Columbus has adjusted to the realities of the twentieth century - retaining and preserving a substantial portion of its architectural heritage.
Searching for a site for the capital of his colony, in August 1823 Stephen F. Austin selected and surveyed a 170-acre tract on the bend of the Colorado River, eight miles above the Atascosita Crossing, as a townsite for the capitol, thus making this site the oldest surveyed and platted Anglo-American town in Texas. Because of the presence of the fierce Karankawa Indians and because many of his colonists! had settled in the vicinity of the Brazos River, Austin instead chose a site on the Brazos, San Felipe de Austin, as the location for the capitol.

Denied the capitol, the settlers in Colorado remained, in an area then known as Beasons or Beason's Ferry. This settlement was the site of the first Fourth of July celebration in Texas, perhaps the first Anglo-American celebration in the state, on 4 July 1826 as the colonists celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The colonists petitioned the newly organized provisional government in 1835 to establish a municipality to be called Colorado with a seat of government to be known as Columbus. As General Sam Houston's army retreated from the Mexican forces led by General Santa Anna in March 1836, they burned a swath of Texas to prevent the facilities and stores from falling into the hands of the Mexican forces. The town of Columbus was among the casualties of this retreat, known as the "Runaway Scrape", Columbus began the task of rebuilding in May 1836, and W. B. Dewees and J. W. E. Wallace replatted and resurveyed the town in 1837. Developers donated a town block known as "Seminary Square" for a school and another block for the Courthouse. Town lots were advertised and they boasted of the completion of sixteen structures and contracts for fourteen more. Illustrative of the early prosperity enjoyed by some in the community, Colonel Robert Robson moved from Dumfries, Scotland to Texas in 1839 and built a three-story "castle" of homemade lime and gravel on the Colorado River on the north side of Columbus. It must have been a striking sight indeed as it is said to have been surrounded by a moat and was connected to the land by a drawbridge. In an innovative structure, water was caught on the roof and channeled to the rooms via wooden pipes. The house was destroyed and in 1883 the Columbus Meat and Ice Company plant was constructed on its site.

Columbus entered the second half of the nineteenth-century growing and prospering. Perhaps more than any other factor, the railroad was responsible for the tremendous growth and accumulation of wealth that is associated with nineteenth-century America. A thriving economy ensued as Columbus was established as a distributing point of the railroad by 1868. A booming cattle industry also contributed to the continuing growth and fortunes that were amassed in the cattle business. These fortunes - most modest, some not so - were displayed as the people turned to architecture to symbolize their newly acquired wealth.

Seeking to surround themselves with a more sophisticated culture and eager for knowledge, Columbus established public schools, several local papers were put into print and the Stafford Opera House was built in 1886 by R. E. Stafford, millionaire cattleman, banker, and industrialist. The center of social and cultural activities, the structure was massive, colorful, fanciful, and symbolic of the prosperity and growth Columbus and its population was eager to exude. Its impact was considerable, as on performance days special trains would run from distant towns bringing the people in to see prominent entertainers, such as Lillian Russell and the magician Houdini, who performed at the Opera House. The highly respected Galveston architect, Nicholas J. Clayton, designed the building, which originally contained a bank on the first floor and the theater on the second level. The interior was lit by gas-burning chandeliers and the stage featured a hand-painted stage curtain Stafford's three-story home adjoined the Opera House and was constructed so that he could watch the stage from his bedroom, or so the story is told.

Columbus' commercial district developed in the 1880s and 1890s as masonry structures took the place of wooden false-fronted buildings. The massing of these buildings was quite similar because of uniform building lots, common floor heights, and materials, but aspirations for individuality were expressed by the variations in openings and patterns of abstract decorative details worked in brick and stone. Galvanized iron was used in molding the decorative cornice of several structures in the 1000 block of Milam fulfilling additional desires for opulence. A new county courthouse was constructed in 1890 - 1891 and it reflected the aesthetic change which occurred during the 1880s, at which time architects turned to a simple, more organized design, drawing their sources from classical architecture.

Private residences too reflected a flourishing economy, such as that built by Stafford adjoining his Opera House. But for the most part, the homes represented the gamut of nineteenth-century architecture. The district is marked by several notable examples of particular styles. The Dilue Rose Harris House exemplifies the Greek Revival, while the Ilse - Rau House is a fine example of the symmetrical Victorian which marks the transitional period from the Greek Revival to the Victorian. The Eastlake-style embellishments of the Townsend -' West House make it unique among the Victorian cottages spread throughout the district.

It is the concentration of nineteenth-century structures that have maintained a similar scale, texture, and utilization of materials that establish the ambiance of the area and distinguishes the historic district from its surroundings. It should be noted that the areas encircling the historic district contain additional architecturally significant structures, although not in as great a concentration as seen in the district. Because of the high degree of public awareness and concern, none of the structures within the district are presently endangered. All indications are that the community, especially that area which forms the historic district, will continue to address itself to the protection and enhancement of its architectural heritage.