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Bexar County in San Antonio has renovated its old historic courtroom
The outside of the Wise County Courthouse is majestic. I can't tell you the number of out-of-towners from over the years I've seen who have stopped to photograph it.
But inside, it's kind of a dump. Every nook and cranny is occupied with some kind of office. And wires (some properly encased and others not) run along the outside of the walls because those walls aren't made up of two by fours and sheetrock.
The district courtroom we have is what I would want restored. I've heard that up until around 1950 or so, it had a circular balcony much like To Kill a Mockingbird. Then a ceiling was put on it and a second courtroom was built on top of it. Obviously, the balcony was removed. It takes a lot of imagination these days to try to picture the way it once was.
Crazy note: I have never seen one single photograph of the courtroom as it used to exist. And I've talked to a ton of folks over the years who are interested in Wise County history that have never seen one as well. That's pretty amazing.
