BlockFrom the record
One of 63 National Register listings published here for Taylor County · listed in 1978 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Old Taylor County Courthouse and Jail
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Address. William St. between North and Elm Sts., Buffalo Gap, 79508
- When was it listed? June 1978
- Category. building
- Census division. Jim Ned
- National Register reference number. 78002984 - 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
236 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 236 fires within 5 miles of Old Taylor County Courthouse and Jail between 2003 and 2020, burning about 2,150 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 8 were 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 burning | 81 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 37 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 22 |
| Natural | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | CATTLE FEEDERS |
| 8 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 4 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 2800 BLK FM 89 W |
| 27 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 1226 CR 150 |
| 25 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | CR 150 & CR 676 |
| 2 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASSFIRE |
| 2 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 1452 WARREN ST |
| 19 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Mines and quarries near this property
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Old Taylor County Courthouse and Jail: 2 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abilene Lake-1 | Copper | Occurrence | 1918 | |
| Buffalo Gap-1 | Copper | Occurrence | 1891 |
Storms near this property
43 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buffalo Gap, the town this property stands in, in 43 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 26 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Gap | $60,000 | Several power poles were reported snapped near Buffalo Gap. Also, a roof was blown off a home and trees were uprooted. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Buffalo Gap | $15,000 | Heavy rains from a slow moving thunderstorm fell on Buffalo Gap in southern Taylor County. This caused quite a bit of localized flooding in and around Buffalo Gap and Tuscola. |
| June 1997 | Flash Flood | Buffalo Gap | $15,000 | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Gap | $5,000 | A couple of power lines and trees were knocked down by the damaging thunderstorm winds. |
| April 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Gap | $2,000 | no account filed |
| March 2026 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | Public report of ping pong ball sized hail on social media. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | A trained spotter reported quarter size hail with around 50 mph winds out of Buffalo Gap. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | A trained spotter reported golf ball sized hail. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | Media reported baseball sized hail over Buffalo Gap. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | Public reported quarter size hail. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | Public reported quarter size hail. |
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Gap | - | There were many 4-6 inch diameter tree limbs blown down. |
| April 2019 | Flash Flood | Buffalo Gap | - | A video on Twitter showed swift moving water of an unknown depth covering a road near Rock Ranch Road and FM 89, near Tuscola. |
| September 2018 | Flood | Buffalo Gap | - | Flooded low water crossing on County Road 150 west of U.S. Highways 83 and 84. |
| April 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Gap | - | A trained spotter reported a thunderstorm wind gust of 70 mph about 1/2 mile west of Buffalo Gap. |
| May 2016 | Flash Flood | Buffalo Gap | - | Flooding was reported along parts of FM 89 in Taylor County. The water level was one foot over the road in the vicinity of Lake Abilene State Park. Abilene State Park was evacuated. Water was over a part of U.S. Highway 83 and 84 south of Abilene in Central Taylor County. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | A trained spotter reported numerous nickel size hail and tree limbs down. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | Golf ball size hail was reported at Abilene State Park. |
| March 2008 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | Quarter size hail was reported near Highway 89. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Buffalo Gap | - | Law Enforcement Officials reported County Road 151 was impassable due to flooding in Buffalo Gap. |
| May 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Buffalo Gap | - | Spotter reported a brief tornado near F.M. 89 and Arrowhead Ranch Road. |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Gap | - | A spotter estimated winds at 60 mph. |
| May 1999 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | Hail up to the size of tennis balls falling in southern Taylor County. |
| May 1999 | Tornado (F0) | Buffalo Gap | - | A tornado touched down briefly near Buffalo Gap in southern Taylor County. |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Gap | - | Winds gusting to 60 mph reported in southern Taylor County. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| June 2019 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| March 2008 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| March 2001 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Tornado (F0) | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
| May 1995 | Hail | Buffalo Gap | - | no account filed |
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.
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 78002984 in Record Group 79. |
| Taylor County | All 63 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.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- 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.