Atascosa County Courthouse

The Atascosa County Courthouse stands on the circle of Jourdanton, a town founded in 1909 with no square. San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps designed it in 1912-13 in the Mission Revival style, and the Texas Historical Commission calls it the only surviving Mission Revival courthouse in Texas. Shaped parapets, pyramidal tile roofs with broad eaves, iron balcony railings and arched openings recall the Spanish missions, in reddish-brown brick rather than adobe.

It exists because of a close vote. The county was formed in 1856 and its seat began at Pleasanton. In 1910 voters moved it to the new railroad town of Jourdanton, and, by a local account, the margin was 57 votes. Some residents still call the building the stolen courthouse. Pleasanton, five miles northeast, kept its museum and its cowboy reputation, while Jourdanton got the county offices.

Texas's courthouse preservation program funded a restoration that stripped dropped ceilings and restored the original windows, doors and woodwork, and the building was rededicated on Flag Day, June 14, 2003. A state marker on the grounds notes that El Camino Real, the King's Highway, was well established through the area by 1722, and that Atascosa is the Spanish word for boggy. It remains a working courthouse, best seen from the circle.