Holiday lights streaming down from the tower of the building to the four corners of the scenic downtown block make visitors feel as though they are walking under a canopy. And although located in Lampasas, the courthouse is a good Christmas place to visit for those wanting to fill a thermos with hot chocolate and take a drive into the Texas Hill Country.
Mickey Tower, parks and recreation director for the city of Lampasas, said the city strings the lights each year on the courthouse, and businesses in the area pitch in as well to make the courthouse square one of the prettiest Christmas destinations off Interstate 35.
He said an annual lighting ceremony, held earlier in the season, attracts hundreds of visitors.
“Probably around 400 people meet downtown and we have a lot of drive-by traffic,” he said.
He added that the city also puts decorations along Sulfur Creek in W.M. Brook Park. Over the past three years the city, assisted by jail inmates, has added new décor in the form of lighted, plywood cutouts to the park decorations.
Both sets of decorations have been a traditional draw for visitors who enjoy the journey as much as the destination in a search of Christmas lights.
Jeff Jackson, outgoing chairman of the county historic commission, said the courthouse, built in 1884, is one of the oldest still standing in the state.
The limestone courthouse was preceded by a frame building, which burned on Christmas Eve in 1871, destroying county records, according to a history of the building. County offices became scattered in buildings around town until construction of the existing building.
Jackson said the county built the new building to be able to withstand fire.
“The limestone for the courthouse was quarried not far from town,” he said, adding that a cornerstone contained newspapers and a rumored horned toad, among other items. He said that because of settling, the cornerstone is below ground level now.
“Now, technically, the building is not as tall as it used to be,” he said.
But if the new building was safer from fire, it was not so in the case of water, Jackson said.
“The courthouse survived two major floods, one in 1936 and another in 1957,” he said. “Both caused considerable damage to the building.”
The damaged prompted the most recent restoration of the building, which was completed in 2004, he said.
The building features a clock tower with a Seth Thomas clock, arched windows and a mansard roof.
A Texas Historic Commission plaque, dated 1965, says the courthouse remains symbolic of the county’s success and is an example of a former era.
“Today, the stately Lampasas County Courthouse remains an outstanding example of the golden era of courthouse construction in the state,” it reads. “It continues to serve as an important symbol of the county’s growth and development and as an influence on the historic character of the county seat.”
