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Photograph of Robertson County Courthouse
Photograph by User:Popeetoes, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Robertson County Courthouse and Jail

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

From the record

“The Robertson County Courthouse and Jail in Franklin, Texas, serves as the county courthouse for Robertson County. The jail was constructed in 1879 and the courthouse was completed in 1880.”

Wikipedia article Robertson County Courthouse and Jail, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 5 National Register listings published here for Robertson County · listed in 1977 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Public Sq., Franklin, 77856
  • When was it listed? December 1977
  • Category. building
  • Census division. Franklin
  • Architectural style. Second Empire style
  • National Register reference number. 77001472 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

80 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 80 fires within 5 miles of Robertson County Courthouse and Jail between 2005 and 2020, burning about 851 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning49
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Equipment and vehicle use7
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Natural3
Arson/incendiarism1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2019Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceSANDY HILL
8 September 2019Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceMAIN ST
8 September 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceLITTLE MISSISSIPPI CEMETERY RD.
8 September 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service17-107
7 September 2017Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceTFS 17-0000105
6 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceLITTLE MISSISSIPPI CEMETERY RD.
5 September 2019Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceNAVASOTA VALLEY
4 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceLITTLE MISSISSIPPI CEMETERY RD.

Every fire recorded in Robertson County

Storms near this property

26 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Franklin, the town this property stands in, in 26 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 12 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2006LightningFranklin$30,000Lightning struck and ignited several tanks of oil and gas early in the afternoon. Seven fire departments fought the fire for three hours before it was extinguished.
April 1997Thunderstorm WindFranklin$25,000High wind removed the roof from a farm house.
May 2025Tornado (EF0)Franklin$10,000An EF-0 tornado touched down just west of Henry Prairie Rd south of Franklin and moved northeast across FM 46 and McNutt Road before lifting near Old Hickory Grove Road. Several trees and large tree limbs were blown down along the path, with minor damage to a few homes and outbuildings. Max winds were estimated at 80 mph.
April 2009Thunderstorm WindFranklin$7,000Large cedar trees were uprooted and large limbs broken on the south side of Franklin. Additional tree damage was reported elsewhere in town along with downed power lines and broken windows. A motorcycle was also thrown across the road.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindFranklin$5,000Broadcast media reported that a roof was blown off of a laundromat and onto Hwy 79 in Frankin, TX.
August 1999Thunderstorm WindFranklin$100A tree was blown down by thunderstorm winds.
May 2024HailFranklin-Broadcast media shared a photo of quarter sized hail in Franklin.
April 2022HailFranklin-A public report indicated quarter sized hail in Franklin, TX.
June 2019HailFranklin-A public report indicated quarter-size hail in the city of Franklin, TX.
April 2016HailFranklin-A trained spotter reported half dollar sized hail in the city of Franklin.
May 2013HailFranklin-Hail increased to the size of a half dollar in Franklin.
April 2010HailFranklin-Quarter size hail was reported 1 mile west of Franklin.
February 2006Flash FloodFranklin-Water covering the road along Farm to Market 46.
May 2005Thunderstorm WindFranklin-Several trees blown down.
May 2005Thunderstorm WindFranklin-Large tree limbs broken off.
June 2004Flash FloodFranklin-County and secondary roads were flooded.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindFranklin-A large tree was blown down across Holly Cemetary Road near Highway 79 in east Franklin.
June 2004Tornado (F0)Franklin-A brief touchdown occurred with no known damage.
May 2003HailFranklin-Golfball to baseball size hail was reported.
May 2001Thunderstorm WindFranklin-A tree was blown down on Highway 79.
January 1999Flash FloodFranklin-Heavy rains flooded Highway 46, north of Franklin.
April 2016HailFranklin-no account filed
May 2013HailFranklin-no account filed
May 2003HailFranklin-no account filed
March 2002HailFranklin-no account filed
April 1996HailFranklin-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Robertson County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Franklin Carnegie Library0.2 miles2005

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 77001472 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Robertson CountyAll 5 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.