Llano County Courthouse
Llano, Llano County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Designed by Austin architect A.O. Watson, this building is the fourth courthouse for Llano County. Work on the structure began in 1892 and was completed one year later. The contractors were J.A. and G.H. Wilson of Sulphur Springs. The courthouse was later surrounded by an iron fence, but only the stone foundations remain. Exterior styling of the building features detailing of sandstone, marble, and granite. Fires damaged the interior in 1932 and 1952. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
By the 1890s Llano was a booming Hill Country town, and its fourth courthouse — designed by Austin architect A.O. Watson and built in 1892–93 — reflected that ambition in sandstone, marble, and locally prized granite. Fires scarred its interior in 1932 and 1952, and the iron fence that once ringed it is long gone, but the building endured as the civic heart of the county. It was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1980.
Why it matters
County courthouses were the proudest public buildings of Gilded Age Texas, and this one showcased the very granite industry that put Llano on the map.
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Related people
- · A.O. Watson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Frank Teich
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Trained under master sculptors in his native Germany, Frank Teich came to the United States in 1878 and by 1883 had established himself in San Antonio as a skilled stonemason and artist. His work on the State Capitol led to courthouses and a great many Confederate memorials and monuments across the South, and in 1901 he founded Teich Monument Works near Llano. That enterprise helped launch the region's granite industry, and Teich is buried in the Llano Cemetery.
Acme Dry Goods Building
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Raised in 1892 by Llano stonemason John Goodman, this brick commercial row housed a parade of merchants — milliners, dry goods dealers, and clothiers — before the Acme Dry Goods Company bought it in 1919 and gave it its lasting name. Its round-arch transoms, keystones, and paired storefront windows are hallmarks of turn-of-the-century Main Street commerce. It became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1997.
Lantex Theater
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The Lantex Theater opened on May 19, 1927, on the north side of Llano's courthouse square, where a packed house paid thirty cents for adults and a dime for children to watch a Universal Pictures feature. Beyond movies, it hosted school concerts, the Llano Opry, WWII bond drives, public meetings, and town celebrations. After a 1951 fire left only the facade standing, owner Rex Wooten rebuilt it with modern amenities, and it has remained a thriving business and gathering place ever since.
Ford Street Commercial Row
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These three attached buildings are believed to be the work of John Goodman, a stonemason who emigrated from Germany to Llano in 1878, and they show the corbelled brickwork typical of early twentieth-century commerce. Since 1904 the buff-and-red brick row has sheltered an astonishing variety of businesses — furniture and liquor stores, cafes and saloons, a saddle shop, a domino hall, and a theater among them. In 1989 the buildings were adapted to house the Llano County Library.