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circa 1885. An early limestone structure with carved cornices stands beneath the modern stuccoed facade. Early uses of the building included a local lodge meeting hall on the second floor, and a hardware/grocery store and later, the county’s oldest newspaper, the Williamson County Sun, on the first floor. Now city owned, it houses the Georgetown History and Visitor Information Center.
101 W. 7th Street
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circa 1971. An early wooden structure on this site once housed a restaurant, a barber shop and a pool hall and confectionery, but by 1925 the site was empty. City offices were moved into the present structure in 1971.
103 W. 7th Street
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With its wooden storefront, recessed double-door entry, and decorative metal cornice, this early store typified commercial building traditions of its day. Early records indicate its use as a grocery store, followed by continuous retail and grocery occupation.
117 W. 7th Street
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Departing from the local tradition of limestone, these buildings feature imported brick facades accented by cast iron columns attributed to F. Heireman, an Austin metalworks. Originally each featured identical metal hood molds over the windows and crowning metal cornices. A stepped brick parapet later replaced the cornice on 709 Main. Both buildings are owned by the Williamson County Sun which has published from this located since 1934.
707-709 Main Street
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circa 1890. Hand-hewn limestone, cast iron, and pressed metal componenets were creatively combined in this noreworthy Victorian commercial building. Nameplates from the Mesker Brothers ironworks are visible on the first floor pilasters. The building is still owned by the descendants of the Dimmitt family.
719 Main Street
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circa 1902. Hand-hewn limestone was used to exemplify the Romanesque Revival style, popular in Texas in the early 1900's. The three-dimensional quality of the richly carved details is a dramatic contract to the utilitarian austerity of the Shaffer Building next door.
713 Main Street
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Williamson County’s first six commissioners met here under a stately oak tree in May 1848 to choose a location for the county seat. George Washington Glasscock offered to donate the land he owned jointly with Thomas B. Huling as a site for the county seat. The land was bounded by the oak tree at one corner and the San Gabriel River to the north and west. The commissioners named the town Georgetown in Glasscock’s honor.
811 Main Street
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circa 1907. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, this block of one-story commercial spaces was completed. The limestone structure featured a plastered front with handsome segmental arched openings.
107-111 E. 7th Street
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circa 1881. This former sanctuary, the city’s oldest wood frame religious structure, originally served the congregation of Grace Episcopal Church, founded in 1868. In 1991, it was relocated to its present site. With its Gothic Revival detailing, the building features such exterior details as diamond-shaped and pointed arched windows, some with stained glass. Tapered wood finials extend from each corner of the two-story tower.
811 Main Street
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circa 1903. This pressed metal storefront is one of the nearly 5,000 sold by the St. Louis firm of Mesker Brothers between 1884 and 1907. Marketed by catalog and shipped by rail, these metal fronts offered affordable yet stylish alternatives for the "public" facades of buildings. H.C. Craig Furniture store opened in this building in 1903.
115 W. 7th Street
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circa 1885. M.B. Lockett’s prominence as a successful dry goods merchantis reflected in this impressive limestone and brick building, which was remodeled in 1896. One of Georgetown’s most outstanding examples of High Victorian commercial architecture, it features Mesker Brothers cast iron columns, an oriel windows and decorative pressed metal cornice.
119 W. 7th Street
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circa 1900. With an onion dome spire soaring majestically from the corner tower, the Lodge became a major element in Georgetown’s streetscape and skyline. The Belford Lumber Company selected heavily resticated limestone with which to construct the building, which features arched door and window openings. The ground floor first housed a drugstore and, for a time, the post office before a furniture store took possession. The Masons continued to meet upstairs until 1982 when the building was sold.
701 Main Street
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circa 1931. Buff-colored brick offset with terra cotta and marble trim was used to construct the Georgetown Revival-style post office, the only example of this architectural style in Georgetown. The dormer windows, roofline balustrade, classical pilasters, round keystone arched windows, and handsome broken scroll pediment over the entrance are typical Georgetown Revival details. In 1895, a frame structure on this site housed a livery stable and undertaker.
113 E. 8th Street
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circa 1888. The lawlessness of the frontier days prompted county fathers to commission this imposing fortress-like jail, the county's fourth. The limestone building with crenelated parapet was designed by prominent Waco architects, Dodson and Dudley, in a style reminiscent of the French Bastille. This historic building no longer serves as a jail, but has become a landmark, housing offices in downtown Georgetown.
312 Main Street
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The Georgetown Palace Theater features a year-round season of musicals, comedies, dramas, and children’s workshops. This nonprofit live community theater opened in 2001 after a fundraising campaign to renovate the Art Deco-style Palace Theater, Georgetown’s movie house from 1925 to 1989.
810 S. Austin Avenue
(512) 869-7469
http://www.thegeorgetownpalace.org/
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Visible for miles around, the imposing Neoclassical structure is the focal point of the central business district and the fifth structure to serve as a county courthouse. Austin architect C.H. Page designed the building, projecting porticoes supported by Ionic columns, and classic pediment and balustrade detailing. The pediments and balustrade were removed in 1965.
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