Seven Courthouses of Liberty County

Fire took the county's paper twice. The brick courthouse of 1857 burned on December 27, 1872, taking the building and most of the records. Two years later, on December 12, 1874, a fire at Key's Hall destroyed the temporary district courtroom and most of the salvaged papers stored there. The third courthouse had been slow in its own way: John S. Booth's contract began in December 1842, and the county accepted the building on October 27, 1849, with all bills paid by February 1850.

What the plaque says

Seven Courthouses of Liberty County The town of Liberty served as the seat of government for the municipality of Liberty, one of 23 territories in Texas established by Mexico in the 1830s. The first courthouse was erected here in 1831 and was made of hewn logs. Municipalities were converted into counties in 1836 when Texas won independence from Mexico; Liberty became the county seat of Liberty County. Constructed in 1840, the second courthouse was a one-story frame house, with split cypress boards. A third courthouse, a two-story frame structure, was built on this Square in the mid-1840s and measured 32 feet by 40 feet. The first floor served as the courtroom. Liberty County's fourth courthouse, completed by 1857, was fabricated of brick and financed primarily from the sale of land owned by the town of Liberty. Fire destroyed that courthouse in 1872. the fifth courthouse, also constructed of brick, was completed in 1877 but deteriorated rapidly and after only 18 years was condemned and removed from the Square. Members of Liberty's Masonic Lodge laid the cornerstone for the sixth courthouse in 1895. The three-story structure was a popular local gathering place. The seventh courthouse, built of Texas Cordova cream limestone was completed in 1931 and enlarged in 1957.

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
• Casa Consistatorial (Courthouse Square) — steps away
• Tarver Abstract Company — steps away
• Plaza Constitucional (Municipal Square) — steps away