First Court in Kimble County

Before the county had a court, it had passed through grants and garrisons. In 1842 the Republic of Texas included 416,000 acres of present Kimble County in the Fisher-Miller Land Grant, which ran from the Llano to the Colorado, though apparently no one settled under it. Capt. Henry E. McCulloch commanded a Texas Ranger post near the center of the present county in 1851. Fort Terrett operated from November 1852 to September 1853, abandoned because the region had too few settlers or Indians. The legislature formed the county from Bexar lands on January 22, 1858.

What the plaque says

First Court in Kimble County (Site: 1/2 mi. NW, on main Llano River) Held in spring of 1876, under a live oak tree that had a hive of wild bees in its trunk. The site, "Old Kimbleville," had been suggested as the county seat. District Judge W. A. Blackburn, of Burnet, arrived by horseback. District attorney was Frank Wilks. The jury was seated on two logs. Another log was the judge's bench, and a piece of gnarled live oak limb the gavel. Prisoners awaiting trial were chained to nearby trees. Major trials were for horse thefts. Texas Rangers were on hand to testify and to guard court, as this was during lawless era. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kimble County Historical Museum — 1.3 mi
  A free county museum in Junction, the town at the meeting of the North and South Llano, with the papers, photographs and tools of a ranching county.
• Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve — 26 mi
  A limestone cave on the James River where about four million Mexican free-tailed bats raise their young each summer, kept open to visitors by a family's gift.
• Fort McKavett State Historic Site — 29 mi
  The post Sherman called the prettiest in Texas, home to soldiers of all four Buffalo Soldier regiments and then to a town that lived in its buildings until 1973.

More markers nearby

• The Killing of Sam Speer — steps away
• The Junction Eagle — 1.7 mi
• Schreiner Park — 1.7 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Junction — 1.8 mi