Facelifts for Texas courthouses. (On First Reading).

Do you remember as a child, a trip to the county seat and a visit to the courthouse? Do you recall gawking at the broad staircases, high ceilings and imposing courtrooms and wondering what happened in such an important building?

Often the courthouses were from a different era. And some were built as part of the New Deal to provide jobs for unemployed miners, builders and laborers. Others were built to accommodate horses and buggies.

Texas has a model courthouse renovation program that other states are looking at as they consider whether to restore or replace the old buildings. The Lone Star State pays up to 85 percent of the renovation costs, and counties pay the rest for courthouses 50 years old and older. Texas has 45 renovations either under way or being designed.

The state commission in charge of the renovations has a Web site (www.thc.state.tx.us/courthouses/chthcpp.html) that explains how to begin a courthouse project, including what should be in the master plan and how to choose preservation consultants.

Kentucky lawyers, preservationists and merchants are urging their state to look at a similar program. The state created a unified court system in the 1970s that handed responsibility for judicial services to the Administrative Office of the Courts. The counties and the administrative office share courthouses, but are not always the best of neighbors, according to Garlan VanHook, general manager of facilities for the state court system. The office is replacing obsolete courthouses with new judicial centers. Seventeen are under construction across the state, and there are plans to replace another 53 over the next six years at a cost of $558 million. As a result, Preservation Kentucky Inc. has placed all courthouses on its list of most endangered buildings.

The preservationists are concerned not only with losing the historic structures, but also the small town way of life that revolves around the buildings.

"When you look at small towns, keeping the courthouse downtown is of utmost importance," says David Morgan, executive director of the Kentucky Heritage Council. "It is one of the most visible buildings in a community. If it leaves downtown, it can't be good for the community."

Often lawyers' offices, restaurants and other businesses that serve the courthouse crowd relocate near a new judicial center, leaving the downtown area. Once the new building is open, the county must decide whether to finance a renovation, sell the old building to a private developer for offices or raze the structure.

"These old buildings connect us to our past. If we can save one, we have saved something for the future," says Burlyn Pike, who has practiced law for more than 50 years.