This great tower can be seen for miles coming into Bandera. It has been restored in recent years.
Bandera County built this beautiful courthouse in 1890-91 using the Renaissance Revival designs of B.F. Trester, Jr. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, along with the
former Bandera County Courthouse and the
former Bandera County Jail, as a joint listing.
For years I thought of this courthouse as a unique, Texas-Hill-Country courthouse. Yet, through my travels, I found that it is actually a courthouse that looks strikingly similar to a few others in Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The two in Illinois are in
Cumberland and
Edwards counties. The five in Kentucky are in
Adair,
Boone,
Carroll,
Hickman, and
Simpson counties. The one is Tennessee is in
Tipton County. These other eight structures were designed by the
McDonald Brothers of Louisville, Kentucky. This one in Bandera was not designed by that firm, but I would be interested in learning more about the possible connection, if any, between the McDonald Brothers and Mr. Trester.
