1900 Richardson Romanesque Courthouse in Brady, Texas
199 County Courthouse Square, Brady, TX 76825
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The courthouse is a working public building accessible during business hours. No admission fee.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved courthouse square with interior access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1900 · Richardson Romanesque Architecture · Texas Historic Landmark · Texas Courthouse Heritage
McCulloch County organized in 1876 with Brady as the county seat. The first courthouse was completed in 1879, but structural cracks appeared before the second story was finished. Within two years, iron bars were threaded through the building to prevent the walls from collapsing. By the late 1890s a new structure was required.
The Masonic Lodge of Brady laid the cornerstone of the new courthouse on September 29, 1899. Martin and Moodie completed the building on a turn-key contract by May 1900. The three-story structure rises in Richardson Romanesque style: rusticated native sandstone from local quarries, flanking turrets, a pressed-metal clock tower (designed for clockworks that were never installed), and highly decorative arched windows and entryways.
The building was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1967. A restoration project began in 2004 and concluded with a public rededication ceremony on September 5, 2009. The courthouse remains an active county government building.
In August 2004, tourists photographed the exterior at night and captured what appeared to be an older man in early-period dress visible in the sheriff's office window. The image, which does not match any known county employee, triggered local interest in the building's paranormal history and prompted the Ghostseekers investigation group to seek permission from the county commissioners to monitor the building.
Sources
County Clerk Tina Smith was in the vault where public records are stored when a large ledger — the kind stored high on a shelf requiring a stepladder — flew out and slammed onto a table near her and two attorneys. The three witnesses were the only people in the room. Smith subsequently referred a paranormal investigation group to the county commissioners for formal permission.
The county judge's elevator account is both specific and verifiable in an unusual way: he asked an elevator service technician whether the elevator had any automatic cycling feature that might explain it moving between floors at night. The technician told him the elevator only runs when someone pushes a floor button — there is no automated cycling. The judge had heard the elevator change floors with no one in the building to operate it.
Footsteps descending through the upper floors during late-night hours have been reported by multiple courthouse employees. The figure seen in the 2004 photograph — an older man in what appears to be early-period dress with a badge, visible in the window of the sheriff's office — corresponds loosely to the Shadowlands tradition about a former district clerk shot on the courthouse steps after a political dispute. The historical identity of that figure has not been confirmed in court or newspaper records.
Notable Entities
The McCulloch County Courthouse is a 1900 Richardson Romanesque structure built from native local sandstone, with a Victorian cupola, flanking turrets, and highly decorative arched windows. The building is an active courthouse accessible during business hours. The county clerk's vault — where a large ledger once flew off a high shelf while the county clerk stood watching — is part of the operational space.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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