The Hopkins County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located in Sulphur Springs, Texas, the seat of Hopkins County. It was designed by San Antonio-based architect James Riely Gordon and constructed in 1894 and 1895. The courthouse was built in the Romanesque Revival architectural style with red sandstone and pink granite, and its design includes a number of unusual features, such as a double-helix staircase, a clockless tower, and entrances that are located on its northwest and southwest corners, instead of on its sides.The building was restored in 2001 and 2002 at a cost of $3.66 million to the State of Texas and $1.3 million to Hopkins County, and it continues to serve as an operating courthouse that is open to the public on a daily basis. The courthouse has also received numerous awards and accolades, including its designation as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1975 and its addition to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.BackgroundAfter Hopkins County was created by the Texas Legislature in 1846, Tarrant was initially designated as the county seat, and a courthouse was constructed there in 1853. In 1868, during the Reconstruction Era, the United States military moved the county seat to Sulphur Springs, which was at the time known as Bright Star. In 1882, Hopkins County constructed its first brick courthouse there; in 1894, this building burned along with the jail and a number of Sulphur Springs' commercial buildings, which necessitated the creation of a replacement courthouse.
