AUSTIN — Thirty years ago, the courthouse squares in San Marcos and Georgetown were blighted and boarded up.
Retailers and restaurants had left the squares in favor of locations near the interstate, while other shops had failed because locals could get to Austin more easily to do their shopping. Historic courthouses with beautiful architecture were surrounded by buildings with decaying facades.
“It was shocking to see photos of what it looked like before,” Shelly Hargrove, the director of Georgetown’s Main Street Program, told the Austin American-Statesman.