Facts

📍 Region: Prairies and Lakes / City: Waco

🗓️ Year Built: 1902

🧑‍🎨 Architect: James Riely Gordon

🏛️ Architectural Style: Beaux Arts

💎 Unique Details: The courthouse stands out for its grand Beaux‑Arts design, complete with a majestic dome topped by Themis, the Greek goddess of justice, and surrounded by Roman eagles. Two other statues are located on the upper roof below the dome, including Justitia, the Roman goddess of justice, and Lady Liberty.

Why See It?

It’s one of the most architecturally impressive courthouses in Texas—featuring a soaring dome, classical columns, and symbolic sculptures that rival any state capitol. 

Photo Gallery

Elegant white government building with classical architecture, tall columns, lush greenery, and statues, captured during daytime with a clear blue sky, showcasing historic and civic landmark features.
A grand Beaux-Arts beauty
Statue of Justice atop a historic courthouse with classical architecture, white columns, and grand staircase, captured during daytime under a clear blue sky.
Historic white courthouse with a statue on top, partly obscured by green tree foliage against a bright blue sky.

Corinthian columns, dome with Justitia, the Roman goddess of justice and Roman eagles

Kris-cross-the-globe-stained-glass-dome-ceiling-architectural-design.
Color-coded map of Waco, Texas showcasing city districts, highways, lakes, and neighborhoods for the Kris Cross The Globe project.

Interior Details – stained glass dome and marble floor with mosaic map

Historic decorative elements, including an original zinc eagle (replicas in place)

Nearby Highlights

Waco National Monument – The park preserves the only known nursery herd of Columbian mammoths in the United States—where visitors can view at least 24 mammoths and other Ice Age animals preserved in situ inside a dig shelter.

A picturesque entrance sign for Waco Mammoth National Monument, part of the U.S. National Park Service, featuring stone and wood design elements amidst green grass and trees.
Mammoth fossil discovery in an excavation site, showing preserved bones of a female mammoth, highlighting paleontological research and ancient megafauna.
Fossilized skeleton of a camel in an excavation site, showcasing ancient animal remains, paleontology, and archaeological discovery.
Fossilized mammoth skeleton on display in a museum exhibit, showing detailed bones of the ancient Ice Age creature. Perfect for history, paleontology, and prehistoric life enthusiasts.
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