History of Atascosa County
Families from northern Mexico established ranches in the area by the middle of the eighteenth century. The name Atascosa, "boggy" in Spanish, was used to describe the area as early as 1788. The Lower Presidio Road, one of the branches of the Old San Antonio Road,qv passed through the area. After the Texas Revolution,qv most of the Mexican ranches were broken up, but the first Anglo settlers did not arrive until the late 1840s, when the state began to grant land there to veterans. The most important of these grants, and the one that marked the beginning of extensive colonization in the area, was that of four leagues on the Atascosa River (formerly known as Atascosa Creek) to José Antonio Navarro,qv originally deeded to him by the Mexican government in 1825 and acknowledged by the state of Texas in 1853.
The area was sparsely settled by the mid-1850s, and in 1856 the county was marked off from Bexar County. The first county seat, Navatasco, was established in 1857 on land donated by Navarro. Among the county's early settlers were Peter Tumlinson,qv who organized one of the first Ranger companies in the state in 1836, Indian fighter Thomas Rodriguez, George F. Hindes, Marshall Burney, and Eli Johnson. In 1858 Pleasanton, a newly founded community, became county seat, and a new courthouse was constructed. Settlers continued to trickle in, but the threat of Indian attack, poor roads, and the area's general isolation kept the population low.
On the eve of the Civil Warqv subsistence farming and cattle ranching were the dominant occupations. The first census taken in Atascosa County in 1860 recorded a population of 1,578, including eighty-four black slaves. Tax rolls show that there thirty-three slaveholders, with most of them owning only one or two slaves. The number of improved acres was small, only 3,397, spread out among 102 farms.
Atascosa County Courthouse
Atascosa County was created from Bexar County in 1856. The first county seat was at Navatasco, on land donated by Jose Antonio Navarro, and the county’s first courthouse was a log cabin. The county seat was moved to Pleasanton in 1858, and a frame courthouse was erected. A second courthouse was built in 1868, followed by a third, a red rock structure in 1885.
When a special election resulted in the relocation of the county seat in Jourdanton in 1910. The county officers were first housed in rented quarters. The following year the Gordon-Jones Company began construction on a new courthouse. Completed in 1912. The building was designed by San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps (1881-1945), who would also design the Atascosa County jail in 1915.
The two-story brick building has identical entries at each side. Mission Revival-style detail includes curvilinear parapets and occasional renaissance motifs, accomplished with cast-stone highlights, metal balustrades, and tile roofing. The corners of the building are turned with three-story tower bays, each topped by an open belvedere. Later alterations to the courthouse replaced original windows and installed an elevator opposite the original stairwell.
Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986
