Wilson County Courthouse and Jail
historic place in Floresville, Wilson County, Texas
The Wilson County Courthouse and Jail are located in Floresville, Texas. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in Texas in 1978 and the courthouse as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1984.
Architect Alfred Giles used local brick for the Italianate design. The courthouse was remodeled in the 1930s, when the bricks were plastered over, and again in the 1950s. Giles also designed the Brooks County Courthouse, Fredericksburg Memorial Library, Live Oak County Courthouse, Presidio County Courthouse, Webb County Courthouse as well as courthouses in the counties of Goliad and Kerr. In 1909, Giles designed the facade of the Kendall County Courthouse. He also designed the 1885 Llano County courthouse, which burned down in 1892.
Jailhouse Museum
In use until 1974, the white brick and stucco cubic jail was designed in 1887 by James Riely Gordon and built at the NE corner of the square. Contractor B.B. Reid erected the building for $14,000. General living quarters are on the ground floor, with the prisoner cells on the second floor separated from the second-floor bedrooms.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Wilson County Courthouse and Jail” as historic place in Floresville, Wilson County, Texas. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as historic place in Floresville, Wilson County, Texas. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8023029. Authority coordinates are 29.133, -98.157. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 1984, 1909 and 1885.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wilson County Courthouse and Jail”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wilson County Courthouse and Jail primary sources, Wilson County Courthouse and Jail archive and Wilson research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wilson County Courthouse and Jail”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wilson County Courthouse and Jail” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.