Save the date for the 3rd annual Duda Forum on Historic Preservation and Sustainability, November 20-21. This year’s forum will focus on historic courthouses in Texas, addressing their rehabilitation challenges and highlighting the important role they play in communities across the state.
Courthouses are among the most recognized structures, yet their maintenance has often been minimal for decades, resulting in challenges for their continued use. In 1999, the Texas legislature created the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program to help protect and preserve these landmarks through grants, review, and stewardship. The program, administered by the Texas Historical Commission, has assisted 107 historic county courthouses with over $400 million in grants.
The Forum will open with an evening keynote event at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin on November 20. The following day, activities will take place at the Comal County Courthouse in New Braunfels, featuring sessions on the Courthouse Preservation Program, documenting and restoring courthouses, adapting courthouses for modern use, the impact of courthouses on community revitalization, and more.
Information regarding registration and sessions will be available soon.
The Duda Forum III is coordinated by the Texas Historical Foundation, the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability at the University of Notre Dame, and the Texas Historical Commission Courthouse Preservation Program.
