Texas has more historic courthouses that any other state. Today more than 234 courthouses still stand that are least 50 years old. About 80 were built before the turn of the 20th century. By the end of that century, most of these structures were significantly deteriorated due to inadequate maintenance, insensitive modifications or weather related damage. The Texas Historical Commission (THC) documented the condition of 50 of the state’s oldest courthouses in the late 1990s and determined that counties lacked the resources to preserve the buildings for future generations.

Providing assistance to counties reached a critical point when Texas county courthouses were added to the National Trust’s 11 Most Endangered Properties list in 1998. The state’s response was to create the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program, the largest preservation grant program ever initiated by a state government. This nationally recognized preservation program has turned around the trend of disrepair and begun the process of restoring the state’s most treasured historic landmarks.

In addition, the THC administers the Texas Courthouse Stewardship program to assist counties in maintaining their facilities.

Construction on the Dallas Old Red Courthouse originally began in March of 1890. The sixth building (and the fifth courthouse) to occupy the site, Old Red was designed in the Richardson Romanesques style with Pecos red sandstone, Texas red granite and Arkansas blue granite by M.A. Orlopp.

It was originally crowned with a clock tower, the clockwork rivaling Big Ben's in quality, but the tower was removed in 1919 when prevailing winds threatened its stability. The grand stairway, an ornate design feature that provided passage between the busy floors, was removed in the 1920s.

 The restoration of the Old Red Courthouse began in 2001 and finished in 2007 at a cost of about $23 million. Most people assume, perhaps because period photographs are black and white, that 19-th century courtrooms were somber. What Old Red restorers found when they peeled through nine layers of paint was that each room in the building had been decorated in a separate color scheme, 35 colors in all. The clocktower and grand stairway have been restored and reconfigured to their origin designs.

The historic downtown courthouse is now open to the public as a museum showcasing the history of Dallas. It is located at 100 South Houston Street.