Karnes City's Clock Tower Vanished for Nearly a Century

Karnes City's courthouse owes its location to a railroad. In the 1880s, Helena did not provide enough money or land for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway. Rancher William Green Butler offered land west of Helena instead. The railroad ran through what became Karnes City, and the growing rail town became the county seat in 1893.

John Cormack began the new courthouse in 1894. After he died, his partner Jacob A. Astor finished it in 1895. The three-story brick building combined Second Empire and Richardsonian Romanesque details, with mansard towers, round corner towers, and a central clock tower.

A 1920 remodeling tried to make it modern. Workers added rooms on the west, removed the clock tower and conical turret roofs, covered the brick with stucco, and closed the south entrance. Nearly 90 years later, preservation work set out to recover the 1894 design.

The 14-year effort repaired serious foundation problems and restored the four brick chimneys, slate roof, landscaping, clock tower, courtroom floor, and historic furniture. The courthouse was rededicated on April 7, 2018. Karnes City got back not just a tower, but the building raised after the railroad changed the county map.