Hill County Courthouse
Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The fourth courthouse for Hill County (organized in 1853) and the third one located in Hillsboro, this impressive landmark replaced a brick court building erected in 1874. Contractors Lovell, Miller and Hood of Brownsville built this rusticated limestone structure in 1890. Waco architect W. C. Dodson, who designed a number of public buildings, planned the modified French Second Empire styling. The three-story courthouse is topped by a seven-story clock tower. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1890 of rusticated limestone, this was the fourth courthouse for Hill County and the third in Hillsboro, replacing an 1874 brick building as the growing county demanded grander quarters. Waco architect W. C. Dodson gave it a modified French Second Empire style, its three stories crowned by a striking seven-story clock tower.
Why it matters
Grand county courthouses like this one were the proud civic centerpieces of maturing Texas towns, announcing permanence and prosperity on the former frontier.
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Related people
- · W. C. Dodson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hill County
Hillsboro, TX
Hill County was created and organized in 1853 and named for Dr. George W. Hill, who had served in the Congress and legislature of Texas and as Secretary of War of the Republic. The village of Lexington was its first settlement, but Hillsboro has been the county seat since its earliest days. The marker records the county's founding at the moment Texas was organizing its interior into governable units.
Site of Old Lexington Village
Hillsboro, TX
Founded about 1851 on Jack's Branch, Lexington was Hill County's very first settlement—and, when the county organized in 1853, its only polling place. For four months two log cabins did double duty as a courthouse, until a special election moved the county seat to Hillsboro and Lexington faded away. The marker itself was relocated to the courthouse square in 2006.
City of Hillsboro
Hillsboro, TX
Carved from Navarro County in 1853, Hill County took its name from Dr. George Washington Hill, a Republic of Texas Secretary of War. Its seat, Hillsboro, rose on donated land and grew rich on cotton, exploding after the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and other railroads arrived in the early 1880s—a boom preserved today in its Queen Anne homes and the grand 1890 courthouse. The town produced a remarkable roster of Texas leaders, including Lt. Governor Bob Bullock.
Hill County Jail
Hillsboro, TX
Built in 1893 as Hill County's third jail, this brick-and-limestone building was designed by Waco architect W. C. Dodson, who also drew the county courthouse. Its Victorian and medieval-revival lines dress up a practical plan: living quarters for the sheriff and jailer in front, steel-clad prisoner cells in back. It was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1981.