Hays County Courthouse Historic District

The Hays County Courthouse Historic District in San Marcos is an intact courthouse square that comprises the core of the central business district. Buildings in the district reflect the dominance of the county seat as a trade center. The district is significant in the area of Architecture, as a collection of commercial and governmental buildings in an urban form that illustrates late Victorian era, Classical Revival, and Prairie School architectural influences. The Period of Significance, 1879 to 1942, includes the construction date of the oldest extant building, through the evolution of the district up to the National Register 50-year cut-off date.

A 1689 Spanish expedition, led by Alfonso de Leon, applied the name "San Marcos" to a Texas River on April 26, Saint Mark's Day; later explorers used the name for the present San Marcos River. The area was the temporary location of two of the San Xavier Mission and the San Francisco Xavier Presidio. Settlement had an unsuccessful beginning. In 1808 approximately 80 colonists established Villa San Marcos de Neve under the Spanish Crown; they abandoned the village by 1812 because of devastating floods and repeated Indian raids. Anglo-American settlement of Hays County and San Marcos began in the 1840s, roughly coinciding with that in Austin (30 miles north) and San Antonio (50 miles southwest). San Marcos was designated county seat in 1848. In 1851 William Lindsey, Edward Burleson, and Eli Merriman purchased a land grant and surveyed the territory using a gridiron form, centered around a courthouse square. This configuration is often referred to as a "Shelbyville plan," prevalent in Anglo communities across the country, including Texas. This form is strikingly distinct from linear plans found just west of San Marcos, in German communities of the Hill Country. The more ambitious Shelbyville plan, unlike linear forms, theoretically allows vehicular rights-of-way to dominate pedestrian routes and creates a rigid, controlled built environment for segregated commercial and residential uses. principle the courthouse square prepares a community for extensive growth, San Marcos developed and permeated the plan slowly. During the mid-19th century, the lines between commercial and residential uses were ambiguous; commercial interests often blended with residential, sometimes even in the same building.

As the town enlarged and more lots were sold, the segregation of uses became more pronounced. Generally, speculators anticipating growth purchased the first lots sold around the courthouse square. While inSan Marcos's earliest building phases resulted in only a few vernacular properties that local carpenters, masons, and builders designed and built using wood or stone from the vicinity. These included the 1861 pine courthouse (burned in 1868, replaced in 1871 with a stone building), two stores, a tavern (a 2-pen log building), and approximately five log houses; apparently, none of these wood buildings survive. Growth was gradual until later in the century.

The 1880 arrival of the International and Great Northern Railroad spurred sudden development. By 1881 the commercial district had evolved substantially, according to Augustus Koch's bird's eye view of the community. A new courthouse designed by F.E. Ruffini was completed in 1883. In 1885 the courthouse square included four saloons, seven groceries, two milliners, one furrier, four confectioneries, one barber and bath, and two cobblers.

The railroad transformed the architectural evolution of the community from vernacular traditions to popular late Victorian-era stylistic influences strongly associated with Italianate design. Features typical of Italianate architecture include round-arched and segmental-arched windows with hood molds and keystones, quoins, and detailed parapets. Mass production of machine-sawn wood at local lumber yards like that of C.G. Mead and L.J. Eastwood contributed to this evolution. Examples of fine wood brackets and modillions embellish the parapets of 113 and 117 North Guadalupe Street as is typical of Victorian adornment on commercial buildings. Cast iron and pressed metal storefronts with intricate patterns, corbelled brick, and polychromatic paint schemes also decorated late 19th-century buildings.

The 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago aroused interest in reviving classical styles that became dominant throughout the country during the first half of the 20th century. This interest took hold of the nation and appeared in San Marcos after 1900. In 1908 the courthouse again burned. That year C.H. Page and Brothers of Austin designed the new Hays County Courthouse using Classical Revival design: a symmetrical cruciform plan, broad expanses of plain wall surfaces, and balanced fenestration. Its rudimentary cubical form is articulated by colossal Corinthian columns and a large copper-clad dome. Several other classically influenced buildings were constructed after the courthouse was complete including the building at 102 North Lyndon B. Johnson Drive (1910).

Although these buildings serve a commercial or public function, a few do enunciate form that alludes to Prairie School influences, which was usually reserved for residential properties. Designed by Roy Thomas, a San Marcos native who worked out of Austin, the building at 216-218 North Guadalupe (1910) follows typical Prairie School design with its horizontal emphasis as evidenced by its boxy shape and brick patterns with some classical detailing. At 117 East Hopkins Street (1915), the building references the Prairie School form, but also features classically influenced detailing, such as an elaborate cornice and an emphasis on symmetry.

Little new construction took place between World Wars I and II; a reduction in the local and national economies during the 1930s stifled most commercial expansion. Merchants did seek to modernize their buildings, sometimes with alterations unsympathetic to the historic fabric of their buildings. Stucco covered late Victorian-era facades including intricate brick cornices and other details that denoted earlier stylistic influences. The building at 138 North Lyndon B. Johnson Drive is an example of such alterations.

Still, San Marcos remained the largest and most important retail center in the county. New construction consisted of the 1930 building at 131 North Guadalupe Street, the 1935 building at 202 East Hopkins Street, and the 1940 building at 118 East San Antonio Street. The automobile began to supplant the railroad as the primary means of transportation, profoundly impacting San Marcos' subsequent physical development outside the courthouse square to improve the financial viability of downtown.

Following World War II, San Marcos and the rest of the nation experienced renewed economic expansion. The increased popularity of the automobile contributed to suburbanization which resulted in commercial decentralization. San Marcos' downtown, as a consequence, began to decline. Many downtown merchants during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s vacated their buildings and moved to new stores in suburban settings more accessible to automobile drivers. To counter this trend, some downtown merchants razed unwanted buildings and replaced them with contemporaneous edifices, such as the building at 137 North Guadalupe Street. Other merchants modified their buildings for a contemporaneous appearance. Applying metal false fronts over historic facades was popular; the building at 101 East Hopkins Street is a typical example.

Nevertheless, efforts during the last decade, largely through affiliation with the Main Street program, have had a positive effect on the district's integrity and should continue to result in restoration projects. In 1983 a Multiple Resource National Register nomination was completed for San Marcos; four commercial buildings were nominated at that time (113 North Guadalupe, 127 East Hopkins, 136 East San Antonio, and 140-144 East San Antonio streets), in addition to the previously listed Hays County Courthouse (National Register 1980). Since that time several rehabilitation projects have occurred. Merchants in the district removed metal false fronts to display the historic facades, such as the building at 102 North Lyndon B. Johnson Drive; they exposed covered fenestration and removed inappropriate signs.

Despite some new construction and unsuitable alterations, the district retains its architectural and historic integrity to a high degree.