The building was constructed in a Classic Revival style with recessed columned porticoes on two sides with a Beaux-Arts clock tower atop.

The older courthouse was an adobe facility that required constant maintenance and never held sufficient space to serve the needs of either county government.

The current building has also suffered over its history with poor construction requiring constant repair as well as the need for upgrades to modern infrastructure and technical standards.

The courthouse grounds are planted mostly with native species, and continues to serve as a focal point for holiday celebrations and community observations.

[2] The two-story Classic Revival edifice features an exterior with alternating layers of concrete and rusticated pink native stone.

Above the central portion of each of the building's four sides is a wood-framed, low-pitched, cross-gabled roof with pediments at each end covered with asphalt shingles.

[7] In addition to the building, a cylindrical concrete block cistern constructed around 1900 located on the southwest corner of the courthouse square is included as a contributing structure to the site's National Register designation.

A second stairway is located south of the west end of the building's main central corridor and is used to provide access to offices and other facilities behind the upper courtroom and as use as a secondary fire escape.

The spectator section comprises the central and eastern portions of the room and is separated by a golden oak railing from the parties of the proceedings.

East of the courtroom on both sides of the landing of the central staircase from the first floor are additional county offices, the elevator shaft, and storage space.

[3] Other state historical markers include one recognizing local namesake Jefferson Davis[13] and a pink granite monument recounting the Confederate occupation and abandonment of the town and its military fort during the Civil War.

[12]: 294–295  Both the Confederate and Gonzales monuments, on the northeast grounds of the square, are recognized resources as non-contributing objects as part of the site's National Register status.

This jail configuration was common among Southwestern courthouses at the time, including contemporary facilities in El Paso and San Antonio, and often referenced as "Batcaves".

Due to the courthouse's small size, the county needed to rent additional office space nearly immediately after completion.

[12]: 95  The building's inadequate space combined with a leaking roof would cause repairs and improvements to consume the majority of commissioners' time after 1982.

After publishing an invitation for bids to construct a new, two-floor facility, they accepted one offered by Keesey due to his original land donation.

[12]: 129–130  In 1884, glass was installed in the windows of the clerk's office, and the sheriff was ordered to remove the water closet and fill the well in the courtyard.

Two windows, heavily barred, had been added to the west wall of the upper cell housing women and less threatening prisoners for light and ventilation.

The jail, no longer used for that purpose but since serving in recent years for county offices, is itself a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

In earlier years, however, Front St. along the west side of the square performed that role as that street was historically the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail through town.

[4]: 4 The ground floor of the new courthouse featured six offices each of which was heated with its own fireplace, a large room for Commissioners Court meetings, and a fire-proof vault for archiving county records.

A 700-pound (318 kg) bell for striking the hours was also used as a fire signal and designated as an alert, if necessary, during the Mexican Revolution and World War II.

[12]: 171–172  Installed shortly after the building was completed were hail screens to protect the windows and acetylene gas lights utilizing a pressurizing machine in the new jail yard.

[12]: 172 Over the years, most changes to the courthouse amounted to mere maintenance such as adopting to new technological and public utility standards including electrical lighting, telephone, water, and sewer service.

Fireplaces had been replaced by distillate stoves requiring the building's dozen chimneys to be raised by 6 feet (1.8 m) to properly draw air, but these caused soot-stained rainwater to discolor interior walls.

In a throwback to the problems plaguing the previous courthouse, the county was constantly needing to replace leaking roofs in the new building.

Downstairs, exterior steel doors were installed, and a counter shelf was built for the office of the sheriff and tax-assessor collector along with five fire extinguishers provided for the premises.

[12]: 349 Between 2002 and 2003, the courthouse underwent a major restoration that involved, not only electrical, mechanical and plumbing improvements as well as necessary accessibility enhancements such as the installation of an elevator, but also the correction of many architecturally insensitive modifications undergone previously.