Fayette County Courthouse and Jail
Courthouse Sq. and 104 Main St., La Grange, TXFayette County was first settled by members of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred. Named for the French hero of the U.S. Revolution, Marquis de Lafayette, the county was created by the Republic of Texas in 1837 and organized in 1838 with LaGrange as the county seat.
Several structures housed the courthouse and jail before the facilities were built. Because of the immediate need for a courthouse in 1838 a small building, formerly used as a grocery store, was moved to the square. Despite the lack of space, it was not until 1847 that a larger more permanent courthouse was erected. Also built in 1838 at a cost of $460, was the county's first jail, where prisoners were ironed and chained. However, within ten years a new building was needed. After numerous plans and appropriations, an attractive two-story brick building was finally built in 1853. Fayette County citizens soon became concerned that the new brick jail looked better than the courthouse, thus a third courthouse was constructed in 1856. Built by H. L. Kreische and designed by William Rosenberg, the two-story masonry structure served the county until 1890.
The 1853 jail was remodeled in 1876, but by 1881 the old jail had proven inadequate to detain prisoners. In 1881 the county commissioners selected the design of Andrewarthe and Wahrenber- ger for a new prison and received the bid of F. Schulte for its construction. The jail was completed in 1883 and the iron fence enclosed the grounds in 1884.
By 1890 an examining committee reported that the third court- house was in an unsafe condition and recommended that a more substantial building be constructed. The county commissioners chose J. Riely Gordon of San Antonio as the architect and Martin, Byrnes and Johnson of Colorado City as the builders.
A native of Winchester, Virginia, J. Riely Gordon had no formal architectural training. At the age of 18 he began his career in Texas by studying and apprenticeship with the Waco architect, W. D. Dodson. In 1883 Gordon went to Washington, D. C. and worked under the supervising architect of the Treasury. Returning to Texas in 1887 he opened an office in San Antonio and soon became famous as a courthouse architect. Besides the Fayette County Courthouse, he designed the courthouses in the counties of Victoria, Bexar, Erath, Dallas, Brazoria, Ellis, Hopkins, Gonzales, Wise, Lee, Comal and Harrison. Following a national trend inspired by the work of Henry Hobson Richardson, the style, frequently known as the Richardsonian Romanesque was quite fashionable in Texas in the 1890s. J. Riely Gordon did some of his finest work in this style and most of his courthouses reflect his personal version of the Richardsonian Romanesque.
The Fayette County Courthouse and Jail, both serving their original functions, remain unchanged except for some interior alterations.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.