A log cabin reportedly served as the inaugural Travis County Courthouse.
The first purpose-built courthouse, a $22,292, two-story stone building, stood on what is now Fourth Street between Colorado and Guadalupe. However, this location was found to be inconvenient.
The second official home for county government was completed in 1876 for $94,000 at 11th Street and Congress Avenue. However, by 1927 the courthouse became known as the “bat roost.”
To the relief of county employees, a new Travis County Courthouse, now known as the Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse, was built in 1930-31 for $750,000. Page Brothers fashioned the courthouse, made of limestone, concrete, and steel, in a Moderne style. A three-story wing was added in 1958, followed by additional expansion in 1962. The building sits on the square at the corner of 10th Street and Guadalupe.
To help meet the needs of a rapidly growing county, the Commissioners Court voted to construct the Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility, now home to 25 courtrooms. Dedicated in December 2022, the 448,000 gross-square-foot facility includes 15 jury courtrooms, six non-jury courtrooms, one child protective services courtroom, one special proceedings courtroom, and two State of Texas Attorney General child support hearing rooms. The $333 million courts building was named Deal of the Year in 2020 by the Austin Business Journal.
The Travis County Commissioners Court meets on the first floor of the Travis County Administration Building at 700 Lavaca St.
Travis County was organized in 1840 and named for William Barret Travis, a commander of the Alamo. The county seat of Austin was named for Texas colonizer Stephen F. Austin.
Austin, the capital of Texas, is home of the largest state capitol building in the United States.
In 1837 or 1838, President Mirabeau B. Lamar was on a buffalo hunt in Waterloo, the present-day Austin area, and he commented on its possibilities as a capital site. The Congress of the Republic of Texas chose Waterloo as the site, in spite of the critics who pointed to the site’s proximity to the frontier, lack of timber, poor soil, and threat of Indian raids. The new capital was renamed Austin and approved on Jan. 19, 1840. A few days later, Travis County was established.
The county’s initial boundaries included roughly 40,000 square miles. Callahan, Coleman, Comal, Gillespie, Hays, Burnet, Brown, Lampasas, Eastland, Runnels, and Taylor counties were later carved from the area.
When Mexican troops invaded San Antonio in 1842, Sam Houston moved the government of the Republic of Texas from Austin to Houston. He tried to have the government archives removed, as well. However, Austin citizens resisted with the Archives War.
The Texas Congress did hold sessions at Washington-on-the-Brazos from 1842 to 1845, but the convention that drafted the Constitution of 1845 met in Austin in July 1845. By October of that year, the rest of the government had returned to the capital city.
Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the World with music venues on South Congress Avenue and in the Red River Cultural District, to name just a couple. Other attractions include the Austin Nature & Science Center, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the Blanton Museum. Of course, Austin is well-known as home of The University of Texas at Austin Longhorns.
Sports venues include the Circuit of The Americas Race Track, the Q2 Stadium, home of Austin FC, and the Moody Center.
For a comprehensive guide to the sights and sounds of Austin, visit https://bit.ly/tour-Austin.