Hays County Courthouse

Constructed to replace the limestone courthouse destroyed in 1908, the present Hays County Courthouse in San Marcos, Texas, has been the focus of governmental and law enforcement activities throughout the county for three-quarters of a century. One of the most significant extant examples of monumental Classical Revival architecture in the state, the Hays County Courthouse, although remodeled, still retains most of its original fine workmanship and many handsome details. How the mass of the domed court- house dominates the surrounding town and countryside is impressive, and reflects the impact this governmental center had on the daily activities of the early Community. The early history of the courthouse is bound to the increased prosperity and population in the county at the end of the 19th century, a result of the establishment of the International-Great Northern Railroad line.

Hays County, which was created on May 1, 1848, by a bill introduced to the Legislature by General Edward Burleson, was named for John Coffee Hays, a prominent Texas ranger, pioneer, and politician. The area which now occupies Hays County was known to the early Spanish explorers and lay at the edge of one of the main travel routes from San Antonio to East Texas. While small Spanish settlements were abandoned in the County in 1812, early Anglo-American settlers were granted land by the governments of Coahuila and Texas as early as 1831. Some of the original settlers, who received Mexican land grants in 1835 were members of John Coffee Hays Texas Rangers.

Hays came to Texas from Mississippi in 1837 and settled in San Antonio. He was commissioned by the Republic of Texas to conduct surveys on the frontier. A reputable Indian fighter, he became captain of a Texas Ranger Company in 1840 and also served in the War with Mexico.
Hays later became a prominent politician and in 1848 he served on a commission to settle a territorial dispute between Texas and the U. S. over New Mexico territory. With the onset of the Gold Rush, Hays moved to California where he served as sheriff of San Francisco County and was appointed surveyor general of California by President Franklin Pierce.

The site for the present Courthouse and its three predecessors was donated to the county in 1851 by General Edward Burleson, Dr. Eli T. Merriman, and William Lindsey. They had purchased 340 acres of the Juan Veramendi Grant and laid out the town of San Marcos, specifying public use for this block. The county borders have been modified four times since 1848, but the county seat and courthouse have remained in San Marcos. The original 1861 courthouse was a pine structure which burned in 1868. Replacing this structure was a soft stone courthouse built in 1871, and condemned as hazardous by the County Commissioner in 1881. After it was torn down, a new limestone structure designed by architect F.E. Ruffini was completed in 1883, but also destroyed by fire in 1908. Although Hezekiah Williams planned for the next county seat to be located in Hays City, 11 miles to the northwest, he was unsuccessful in attracting new settlers here, and San Marcos remained the county center. The fourth and present Courthouse is currently in good condition, but the interior, in particular the second and third floors, requires restoration and redecoration.