Granite Shoals City Hall and Municipal Complex

We are often asked, 'Why did the City build such an elaborate City Hall?'  The answer is, we didn't.  The building was completed in about 1985 as the headquarters for Capitol Marble & Granite Co., which owned several granite quarries across the country, including the one on this property that once quarried Texas Pink granite. The granite was quarried, cut and polished here.   

At the time that this building was being built, the City Hall was operating out of the small white building at 410 N. Phillips Ranch Road.  This little building still stands next door to the Police Department.  The first official City Hall for the City was located in a small building where part of the water system is located today. 

This building's exterior, and many of the interior accents and floors are Texas Pink Granite.  This is a different color than the Sunset Red, which is quarried at Granite Mountain in Marble Falls, and Texas Pearl, which is quarried in central Granite Shoals.  Cold Spring Granite still quarries Texas Pink across North Phillips Ranch Road.

Brad Nelsen of Nelsen Partners in Austin was the principal architect.

Capitol Marble & Granite constructed the building to be a showplace for uses of granite.  This included granite floors, floor trim, desks, tables, window sills, composite veneer around support columns, countertops and walls.

Cold Spring Granite (based in MN, and which also owns Granite Mountain) acquired Capitol Marble & Granite in 1988, and used the building as its Western U.S. headquarters until the early 1990's when the recession slowed down the national construction industry and caused the company to close the building, and lay off a hundred workers. 

Except for a church that used the building sporadically for a few years, the building remained vacant from the early 1990's until opening up as City Hall in 2010.  During the years that the building sat empty, many forms of wildlife moved in to make the property home.  Even today, it is not rare to see a bat or other small animals at City Hall.   City staff and visitors especially appreciate watching fox, deer, and road runners enjoying the property.  

The city purchased the building and the surrounding 136 acres in 2008 out of bankruptcy court.  The last private owners were Global 360.  The building was opened to the public on April 24, 2010 after significant renovations, including adding an elevator, new air conditioning, a new roof, new fire protection system, and a paved driveway.

We have special pride in our landscaping at City Hall, which was a 'labor of love' from the city's Master Gardeners.  The Master Gardeners have the landscaping coordinated to insure that something is in bloom all year around.  These gardeners used, as much as possible, native and drought-resistant plants.  

The building has about 10,400 square feet of useable space, and sits at 940 feet above sea level at the highest point in the City.  Informal tours of City Hall are available when staff is available.  Please call ahead to make arrangements at 830-598-2424.  

The long granite conference table in the downstairs conference room is said to weigh over a ton, and was so large that the company had to bring it in by a long conveyor belt through the eastern window area of the room.

There are numerous work buildings on the property.  The City first started to convert / repurpose these buildings into tennis courts, in cooperation with the Andy Roddick Youth Tennis Foundation.  The city was first able to create a small covered tennis court called the 'Quick Start' court.   It is popular with tennis students and those who enjoy 'Pickleball'.  In 2015, the Adult tennis courts were dedicated with court surfacing that is similar to that found at the Australian Open. 

Also in 2015, the City opened the Leo Manzano Hike, Bike and Run Trail.  This Trail is named after our local Olympic Hero Leo Manzano, silver medalist from the London Olympics.  

The granite used on the dais in the Council Chamber is Sunset Beige, which is from Cold Spring's quarry off of Wirtz Dam Road in Granite Shoals.     

In the Spring of 2017, the area Master Naturalists opened a Wildlife Viewing Center on the grounds of City Hall.  This is an educational facility.  It is a classroom with one glass wall overlooking a small pond.  All manner of wildlife come to drink.  The Wildlife Viewing Center was built entirely by the Master Naturalists and donated to the City.  It is just a short walk off of the Leo Manzano Trail to the Wildlife Viewing Center; on the Southern side of the property.  It is also called the Bird Watching Center.  Follow the directional signs. 

At the entrance to our City Hall property, at the driveway off North Phillips Ranch Road, there is to your right a small gazebo-like structure called the Interpretive Center.  This open air facility has display cases inside on each of the four walls.  The  information in the display cases teach the visitor everything about the mining processes that once took place on this site.  

In front of the Interpretive Center, there are two small gardens.  One contains plants that feed the Monarch butterflies. There is also a small garden specifically of wildflowers.  These gardens were also the result of the Highland Lakes Master Gardeners, who were awarded a small grant to start the Monarch Butterfly waystation.   

A new addition that is also at the driveway entrance to City Hall is the digital display sign.  This sign, from Entech company, is programmable to run messages of interest to the citizenry.  Meeting dates and holiday greetings, event information and safety reminders scroll continually on this sign.  The sign, which was paid for by Hotel Occupancy Taxes, was designed by Element 7 Concrete, a local company. 

The newest addition to Quarry Park will be the Multi-sports Complex set to open in 2021.  This facility is the repurposing of another quarry building, created in a similar process as used to create the tennis complex.  The Multi-sports Complex will provide covered courts for team sports: basketball, volleyball, soccer and pickleball.  There is also a playscape to the South side of the building.  There are batting cages and a multiple purpose artificial turf sports field.  In 2016 the City of Granite Shoals was awarded a Texas Parks and Wildlife Grant of a million dollars to repurpose what was an unused metal building into the the Multi-sports Complex.  This project is the realization of almost ten years of work by the Parks Advisory Committee, Council and staff to bring these special amenities to our parks.