First Court in Kimble County
Junction, Kimble County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Site: 1/2 mi. NW, on main Llano River) Held in spring of 1876, under a live oak tree that had a hive of wild bees in its trunk. The site, "Old Kimbleville," had been suggested as the county seat. District Judge W. A. Blackburn, of Burnet, arrived by horseback. District attorney was Frank Wilks. The jury was seated on two logs. Another log was the judge's bench, and a piece of gnarled live oak limb the gavel. Prisoners awaiting trial were chained to nearby trees. Major trials were for horse thefts. Texas Rangers were on hand to testify and to guard court, as this was during lawless era. (1967)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kimble County's first court convened in the spring of 1876 in the open air beneath a live oak whose trunk held a hive of wild bees. Judge W. A. Blackburn rode in from Burnet to sit on a log bench, the jury perched on two more logs, and a gnarled oak limb served as his gavel—while prisoners awaiting trial were chained to nearby trees. Texas Rangers stood guard and gave testimony, most of the cases turning on horse theft in a notoriously lawless era.
Why it matters
The scene vividly captures how frontier Texas improvised the institutions of law and order under a tree before the trappings of a courthouse ever arrived.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the mid-1870s, the Texas Hill Country along the Llano River was raw frontier. Settlement was thin, distances were long, and the institutions of government were only beginning to take hold. Kimble County existed on paper, but setting up a working county government meant starting almost from nothing.
This was an era the marker bluntly calls lawless. Horse and cattle theft were serious problems in remote parts of Texas, where a stolen animal could vanish across miles of open country. Local officials were few, and a jail or courthouse was often a hope rather than a reality.
The Texas Rangers played a large role in bringing order to regions like this in the 1870s. They tracked outlaws, made arrests, and, as this marker shows, sometimes stood guard over the very proceedings meant to put the law into action.
People & events
In the spring of 1876, Kimble County held its first court, and it did so in the open air. The gathering took place beneath a live oak tree with a hive of wild bees living in its trunk, at a spot called Old Kimbleville, which had been suggested as the county seat. You can almost hear the buzzing over the proceedings.
District Judge W. A. Blackburn rode in on horseback from Burnet to preside, and Frank Wilks served as district attorney. With no courthouse, everyone made do. The jury sat on two logs, another log served as the judge's bench, and a gnarled piece of live oak limb became the gavel.
The scene had a hard edge too. Prisoners waiting for trial were chained to nearby trees, since there was no jail to hold them. The most important cases concerned horse theft, a crime taken very seriously in a place where a horse could mean a family's livelihood. Texas Rangers were on hand both to testify and to guard the court.
Its place in the American story
This makeshift courtroom captures something essential about the American frontier: the determination to bring the rule of law even where there were no buildings to hold it. A judge, a prosecutor, a jury, and a gavel, however rough, meant that disputes and crimes would be settled by a trial rather than by force alone.
Across the West, new counties went through similar beginnings, holding court in tents, stores, saloons, or under trees until proper courthouses could be built. Kimble County's story is an unusually vivid example of that process.
It also shows the role of state authority on the frontier. The presence of the Texas Rangers reminds you that local justice often depended on outside help in its earliest days, as new communities worked to become orderly, self-governing places.
If you visit
The marker notes that the original court site lay about half a mile northwest, on the main Llano River. Take a moment to picture the scene: a big live oak, a few logs, horses tied nearby, and a gathering of settlers watching justice take its first steps in the county.
The Llano River country around Junction is beautiful, with clear water, limestone, and live oaks that make it easy to imagine that first courtroom beneath the trees. Spend a little time outdoors here to get the feel of the land the settlers knew.
Junction is a natural stop on a Hill Country road trip, and it pairs well with other sites that tell the story of frontier settlement and the Texas Rangers. When you see a live oak along the river, you may find yourself wondering whether a trial could have been held beneath it.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · W. A. Blackburn
- · Frank Wilks
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Killing of Sam Speer
Junction, TX
On Christmas Eve 1876, seventeen-year-old Sam Speer was killed by a band of Indians while driving horses near this spot, his brother's large-caliber rifle failing to fire in the moment. Recorded as the last such killing in Kimble County, the event marked the closing of an era of frontier conflict along the Llano; Speer rests in the North Llano Cemetery.
First Court Tree
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This site marks where, in 1876, one of the first court hearings in newly organized Kimble County was held in the open, presided over by Judge W. A. Blackburn. Texas Rangers stood guard, and in the rough frontier fashion of the day the proceedings were conducted with a tree pressed into service in place of a courthouse. It is a vivid image of law arriving in the Hill Country before its institutions were fully built.
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