Blanco County Courthouse, Texas

County Seat – Johnson City

Built – 1916

Architect – Hentry T. Phelps

Style – classical revival

Date Pictures taken – December 23 & 26, 2004

see Blanco County Jail
see Blanco County Courthouse – retired
see Blanco county Jail – retired

Impressions – We took a short – winter trip out to Perdenales State Park in Blanco County.  Yes, it is Texas, but believe me, it can get cold in winter – and this trip highlighted that fact.

I took 3 sets of pictures of the Blanco County Courthouse in Johnson City.  One set was at night.  First time I’ve tried to do a complete set of shots in the dark.  It went well.  I, of course, used the tripod, and my new Panasonic camera.  It worked well.  Being Christmas time – Johnson City was lite up for the holidays.  There are impressive displays of Christmas lights on the courthouse, on the Pedernales electric coop grounds and in the city park.  This made the nighttime shoot a little special.

Next day, I went into town and took daytime photos – but it was cloudy, so we stopped on the way back home as the sun was out in full force.  I think the contrast of the masonary and the blue sky made for better pictures.  Of course, after shooting and getting ready to go, I noticed I had set my camera to a cool filter – so all the pictures were bluish.  I quick – took another set on regular setting.

The courthouse, itself, is very representative of the Hill Country.  The stone was probably taken from a local quarry.  It’s fairly well kept on the outside, thought through the windows, it didn’t look too impressive on the inside.  All in all, a nice setting for a sturdy Hill Country edifice.  The square, Christmas, the stone, the basic, but strong architecture, is very picturesque.