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In 1854 Karnes County erected its first courthouse in the county seat of Helena, an important stage stop between San Antonio and Goliad. The original courthouse was destroyed in a storm about 1865 and a new stone courthouse was built in Helena in 1873.
In the 1880s the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad was planning a route from San Antonio to the coast. The citizens of Helena did not donate land or raise enough cash for the railroad. At this time, W.G. Butler donated land west of Helena through what is now Karnes City. As a result, the railroad bypassed Helena as it built a line through Karnes County in 1886-87. By 1893 the railroad town of Karnes City, established here in 1891, had surpassed Helena in population and political clout. Karnes City was chosen as the new county seat on December 21, 1893.
Karnes County officials let bids for a new courthouse and jail on January 4, 1894. They received bids from prominent Texas courthouse designers, Alfred Giles and J. Riely Gordon, but awarded the courthouse contract to John Cormack, who also built courthouses in Concho, Somervell and Uvalde counties. Cormack died before finishing the structure and his business associate J.A. Austin completed the job. The courthouse was dedicated on October 25, 1894, and completed on May 29,1895. The three-story brick courthouse with rusticated stone trim featured Second Empire and Richardsonian Romanesque elements with projected mansard towers, cylindrical corner towers and a central clock tower. Alterations beginning in the 1920s resulted in two additions on the west side, removal of the original clock tower and the conical roofs of the corner turrets, stucco applied over the brick and blocking off the south entrance. Construction beginning in 2011 and completed in 2018 restored the courthouse to its original (1894) appearance.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2010
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