2005
NCSHPO Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation
The Texas Historic Courthouse
Preservation Program in the category of New Initiatives
for their exemplary role in the creation and successful implementation
of a new statewide project or program benefiting historic preservation
and in the category of Public Policy
for their efforts to secure legislative or administrative support
for a historic resource, preservation project or program.
The State of Texas is fortunate to have
a premier collection of historic county courthouses, both in quantity
and architectural diversity – 230 courthouses dating from
1860.
In 1998, the National Trust for Historic
Preservation named Texas courthouses to its lists of America’s
11 Most Endangered. A call o action was made by the Texas Historical
Commission and Preservation Texas and in 1999, then Governor George
W. Bush created the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.
The program uses funds specifically appropriated by the state
legislature and its unique mission brings together a wide variety
of people and organizations to restore and revitalize the courthouses
not as museums, but as viable, working government centers.
Since 2000-2001, the program has been
awarded a total of $145 million. As of April of 2004, 26 projects
have been funded with major construction awards and 18 courthouses
have been completed and rededicated.
The results of the program have been
marvelous. The courthouses have been the subject of a Texas radio
program; are a regular feature in a state magazine; two film documentaries
are now underway; and completed courthouses have received numerous
aware from architectural and construction organizations. The Texas
Historic Courthouse Preservation Program has resulted in a unique
legacy being preserved.
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