Casa Consistatorial (Courthouse Square)

The block was drawn to a size. Madero set aside a square of 120 varas a side, about 333 feet, for what his plan called the Casa Consistorial. A 2022 Bluebonnet News history of the courthouses traces the first building, a hewed log structure likely standing by May 1831, to David Carlton Hardee's recollection of 1840. When the brick courthouse of 1857 went up, its northeast cornerstone was set as a permanent survey point for lots east of the Trinity. The seventh courthouse on the square was added to the National Register on December 12, 2002.

What the plaque says

Casa Consistatorial (Courthouse Square) Originally one of the five squares platted for public use in 1831 by J. Francisco Madero, General Land Commissioner appointed by the Mexican government to survey and grant long-awaited land titles to Texan colonists of the Atascosito area in accordance with the 1825 Law of Colonization. With Madero's agreement colonists were given rights of local self-government, including the location of the seat of government. By a narrow vote, Smith's Plantation (now Liberty) was chosen over Moss Bluff. From the first (1831) courthouse - a small hewn log building 22 feet square - Madero reported the results of elections of officers to the chief of the Department of Bexar. Documented congratulations were received from Mexican officials in Bejar, Nava, Villa de Rosa, and Abasolo. The town was renamed Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de la Libertad and became known as Liberty. Prominent Texans including Sam Houston practiced law in the Liberty courthouse. It has been the site of famous trials including a dual murder trial in which defendants were represented by David G. Burnet. Burnet's appeal of the verdict before the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos led to his election as the ad interim and first President of the Republic of Texas prior to Texas gaining its independence. (1968, 2017)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center — 3.9 mi
  A state archives and museum north of Liberty with an exhibit on Southeast Texas history and a campus of historic buildings, including an 1848 house and an 1898 church.
• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 27 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.

More markers nearby

• Captain William M. Logan — steps away
• Seven Courthouses of Liberty County — steps away
• Plaza Constitucional (Municipal Square) — steps away
• Tarver Abstract Company — steps away