Johnson County Courthouse, historic place in Cleburne, Johnson County, Texas

The Johnson County Courthouse is a Prairie style courthouse in Cleburne, Texas, completed on November 28, 1913, and renovated in 2006. It is a multi-story stone building: a light tan masonry base with rows of rectangular windows, a projecting central entrance bay, and above it a square tower with tall narrow openings and a stepped, flat-roofed crown.

Johnson County moved its seat to Cleburne after part of the county was consolidated into Hood County. A two-story brick courthouse was completed on October 26, 1879, then razed in 1882 for a brick building with a bell tower. That structure burned on April 15, 1912, and the present courthouse was completed on November 28, 1913, then renovated in 2006.

The courthouse remains an active seat of Johnson County government, not a museum. Its name recalls the county's repeated moves of the county seat: Wardville, Buchanan, then Cleburne, where the first brick courthouse was finished on October 26, 1879. Visitors can look for the stepped, flat-roofed crown of the central tower, visible above the surrounding downtown streets.

The courthouse stands at the heart of downtown Cleburne and is easily visible from public streets. When visiting, allow time to explore the central atrium with its octagonal skylight and marble walls, as these architectural details reward close attention and slow walking.

The current courthouse is the fifth building to serve Johnson County since the original one at Wardville. That first log courthouse still stands in a park on the banks of Lake Pat Cleburne, though arsonists damaged it in 2007. The 1913 building was renovated in 2006.