As
an office building she housed real estate brokers,
lawyers, doctors, dentists, and the Justice of the Peace.
As a school she served children from 1893 until 1901
following a fire which destroyed the local high school.
Once again in 1919 when the two story school building was
condemned as unsafe, she housed Blanco students.
Beginning in 1906 her vaults, once used by county tax
collectors, were utilized by the Blanco National
Bank. Later she became the site of the Federal Farm
Loan Bank. As a community meeting place she served as the
Farmers' Union Hall, the Town Hall, theater, opera house,
library and even the fair grounds.She became the second
home of the locally published Blanco County News, which
is still serving the community. In her most well known
role she served from 1937 to 1961 as a general
hospital.
Between 1971 and 1973 the building was the Blanco Museum
of the Early West and became a recorded Texas Historic
Landmark. Briefly she was a restaurant - barbecue of
course - but this service was short lived.
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The
Grand Old Building eventually fell into a
state of disrepair and was for sale for a
number of years. An ardent admirer who
envisioned the faded beauty restored to her
former grandeur as his private residence,
bought the building in 1986. His plan
included dismantling the old building and
moving her stone by stone to his
ranch.
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What
ordinarily would have been an inconspicuous
notice in the Blanco County News in June of
1986 proved to be the first trickle of a
tidal wave voicing public indignation. Within
days local citizens gathered to plot their
strategy. Thus the Old
Blanco County Courthouse Preservation
Society
was born and a formal petition was drawn up
opposing the owner's plan to remove the Old
Courthouse from her home on the
square.
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In
July, US Representative Jake Pickle added his name to
those of over twelve hundred other petitioners -- a large
percentage of the population of the entire county. In
August of 1986, Courthouse advocates crowded into a City
Council meeting determined that an Historical District
ordinance to prevent the loss of additional buildings
would be passed. The successful outcome spoke out clearly
on behalf of preserving Blanco's cultural heritage.
In
May, 1998, after countless hours of fund
raising, planning, renovation and restoration
work by OBCCPS members, the grand old
building was rededicated and reopened for use
by then Governor George W. Bush. Efforts to
pay off the restoration debt and to complete
the restoration continue as OBCCPS continues
to pursue the dream.
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