Old Cora Courthouse
Comanche, Comanche County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Soon after the creation of Comanche County in 1856, the town of Cora (10 mi. SE) was platted to serve as the county seat. The courthouse in Cora, typical of many early Texas courthouses, was a 12' 7" x 12" 10", one-room, squared log structure. It served the county until the seat of government was moved to Comanche in 1859. The "Old Cora" courthouse was incorporated into a house built about 1880 and has been moved several times over the years. It stands as a reminder of the now-extinct town of Cora and of early Texas courthouse architecture. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
A one-room log courthouse from a now-vanished county seat captures both the improvised beginnings of frontier government and the fragility of the boomtowns that dotted the American West.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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