First Comanche County Courthouse
Comanche, Comanche County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A dwelling before county organization, 1856. Served as courthouse in town of Cora until 1859, when Comanche became the county seat; then reverted to use as a residence. Moved here and restored by Mr. and Mrs. A. P. Burks.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Comanche County organized in 1856, this modest dwelling in the little town of Cora did double duty as its first courthouse. Once Comanche won the county seat in 1859, the building simply reverted to being a home. It was later moved and restored.
Why it matters
It shows the improvised, make-do beginnings of frontier county government in mid-19th-century Texas.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Cora Courthouse
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Soon after Comanche County was created in 1856, the town of Cora was platted as its seat, and a tiny squared-log building barely twelve feet on a side served as its courthouse. When the county seat moved to Comanche in 1859, Cora withered, and the little courthouse was folded into a house around 1880 and shuffled from place to place over the years. It endures as the last trace of a vanished town and of the rough-hewn architecture of early Texas government.
Fleming Oak
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