Site of First Zavala County Courthouse
Batesville, Zavala County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Zavala County was created in 1858 from Maverick and Uvalde counties. Named for Lorenzo de Zavala, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, the county was not organized for judicial purposes until 1884. In that year citizens elected county officials and selected Batesville as the county seat. Batesville originally was known as the Bates Ditch community or Bates City. Elijah A. and Ellen J. Bates are credited with its founding. They came to the area in the late 1860s and became a prominent ranching family. Bates, who is credited with the first irrigation project in the area, began selling two-acre plots of the irrigated farmland, and a settlement grew up near his home. After the selection of Batesville as the Zavala County Seat, Bates conveyed a portion of his land for use as a courthouse square. The first county courthouse and jail were constructed at this site in 1885. Built of burnt bricks made from Leona River soil, the two story courthouse featured offices downstairs and a courtroom upstairs. The structure was used as the county courthouse until 1928, when the seat of government was moved to Crystal City. The old courthouse then was used for a variety of purposes until it was torn down in 1947. (1984)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Zavala County was carved from Maverick and Uvalde counties in 1858 and named for Lorenzo de Zavala, a veteran of San Jacinto, but it went unorganized until 1884, when voters finally elected officials and chose Batesville as the seat. The town had grown up around the ranch and irrigation works of Elijah and Ellen Bates, pioneers credited with the area's first irrigation project. Bates gave land for a courthouse square, and in 1885 a two-story brick courthouse rose here, built of bricks fired from Leona River soil, serving until the county seat moved to Crystal City in 1928.
Why it matters
The site marks the slow, hard-won process of bringing government and settled institutions to the arid ranch country of South Texas.
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Related people
- · Lorenzo de Zavala
- · Elijah A. Bates
- · Ellen J. Bates
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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