Texas Courthouse Trails : Along the Rio Grande, Courthouses of South Texas

Willacy County Courthouse, Raymondville, TX

I had been planning this journey for months and knew it would be the longest yet for a single day trip. David Billingsley had agreed to go with me. He didn't back off when I told him we would leave his house at 4am. So, May 28th I got up at 3am after a battling an upset stomach for the last three hours. The car was loaded and all I had to do was get dressed and drive to Dave's. I arrived a few minutes before 4am and he was ready to go. We loaded his gear, said a short prayer and we were headed south on US59. Our first priority on the trip was to get some coffee and breakfast at an opened Mac Donald's. We found one in Edna. Our first destination was Raymondville, county seat of Willacy County. If you look at the map and see numbers we just did them in reverse. One sight that surprised both of us was the wind farm in Willacy County. The huge three bladed turbins stand hundreds of feet above the ground. The wind farm is located 5 miles east of Raymondville and is the first wind energy project in Willacy County, The wind farm is powered by 112 Vestas 1.8 megawatt turbines providing more than 200 megawatts (MW) of power, enough to provide clean power to more than 60,000 households in Texas.

The Willacy County courthouse is a Classical Revival structure built in 1922 and designed by famed architect Henry T. Phelps. People of Willacy County must all be law abiding because there was the court was not in session and the courtroom was locked. I found DA Investigator, Juan Miliares, and explained what I was doing and asked him to open the courtroom for me. He was more than kind and unlocked the courtroom for me. I snapped a few pictures inside and thanked him and we were on our way to Brownsville.

Cameron County Courthouse, Brownsville, TX

Brownsville was the farthest point I have ever been in a single day. It is really out of the way because you have to drive down US83/US77 to the end, visit the courthouse and retrace your route back north to US83. It was worth the drive because it is the most architecturally beautiful courthouse of the day. Our first stop was the modern "Criminal Justice Center," not the building I had read about. County officers directed me to the 1912 structure you see in the photos. This building was designed by famed architect, Atlee B. Ayres and it's style is called "Texas Renaissance", a mixture of Classical elements uniquely Texan. I knew there was a rotunda with a glass ceiling inside but you can't see that from the outside.

Dome glass ceiling, Cameron County Courthouse of 1912

This courthouse has been completely restored and is used as a commissioners court. The place is beautiful inside as well outside. I found the courtroom locked and asked someone who seemed like they belonged if it was possible to get into the courtroom. None other than the Cameron County Treasurer, David A. Betancourt, unlock the doors and allowed me to photograph the interior of the now commissioner's court. He was amazed that I had already visited 130 counties and really amazed that it was only half way.

Our next stop was Edinburg, county seat of Hidalgo County. This is one of those "Modern style" buildings with no imagination. I didn't bother to go inside and just snapped a few images outside. Time was ticking away.

Hidalgo County Courthouse

The route to the next county seat, Rio Grande City, took us through Edinburg. The traffic was heavy and I think we were stopped at every intersection along SH107 for a red light. We made it back to US83 which would take us thru Starr, Zapata and Webb counties.The next stop was Rio Grande City, county seat of Starr County. This structure is built of brick in modern style. Again, I didn't go inside because of time and a boring looking building.

We continued along US83 to Zapata, TX county seat by the same name. The courthouse sits on a hill and is visible from a long way off. I like that. The Zapata courthouse is "Mission" style and very appropriate for the geography of this region of Texas. The courthouse building was under going some renovation which I tried to hide from the camera. This courthouse ground had the best veterans memorial of the day, see photo.

Zapata County Courthouse

Our next stop was Laredo, county seat of Webb County. We followed the GPS directions but it left us a block short. I kept seeing directions to the border with Mexico and we were on a one way street headed in that direction and I had to manuver quickly to get out of that traffic. We did not want to even get that close to Mexico as both of us would have gone to jail. I'll let you figure that out on your own. If you can't email me and I'll explain. The 1909 Webb County courthouse as is the 1992 courthouse are built in the "Mission" style. Both resemble a Spanish mission. The main street to the border with Mexico has the biggest US flag I have ever seen. It made me proud to be a Texan.

We left Laredo and aimed the car toward Hebbronville on FM359, county seat of Jim Hogg County. This courthouse was built in 1913 by famed architect, Henry T. Phelps, in the Texas Renaissance style. David and I noticed the oil service trucks, drilling rigs, dump trucks, tank trucks and every camp ground filled with campers in most of South Texas as we traveled. David said it was part of the Eagleford Shale exploration boom that is producing millionaires out of some lucky landowners.

Our last courthouse of the day was in McMullen County at Tilden, Texas. This was a simple 1930 Classic Revival structure. It was closed so I photographed the exterior and we headed home. We stopped in Three Rivers and got a couple of Blizzards, a tank of gas and we found US59 and headed north to Houston. We made it to David's at 10pm and I was home 45 minutes later. Total for the day: 1043 miles in 19 hrs.