mw

July 02, 2008 | Bandera County Courthouse

Texas County Courthouse Project #4: Bandera County (Bandera, Texas)

Bandera is in the Texas Hill Country, fifty miles northwest of San Antonio. Legend says that in 1732 a treaty was created between Apache and Spanish leaders. They met at a pass which the Spanish agreed not to cross to the north if the Indians agreed to end raids to the south. A red flag, or bandera in Spanish, was planted on the pass giving it the name Bandera Pass. Of coarse this may of may not be true, but in the following century the county and future county seat were both came to be named Bandera. Bandera became the staging area for cattle drives after the Civil War and then the site of several Dude Ranches in the twentieth century lead to Bandera gaining the title “Cowboy Capital of the World”.

The Renaissance Revival style courthouse was built in 1890. An interesting thing I did not notice when I was there, but read after doing research was that the hands of the clock are painted. When the building was originally constructed the clocks read 7:45, but after recent restoration of the cupola they now read 10:10….and nobody knows why.

Archives: 2005 2006 2007 2008

Texas County Courthouse Project

Photoblogs.org - The Photoblogging Resource