Cameron County Courthouse of 1883-1914

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Cameron County had been making do for a good while, renting space here, purchasing space there, just scraping together wherever county officials could find a desk and a door that locked. But in 1883, that all changed.

That year, Cameron County completed its very first courthouse, a building the county could call its own. Three stories of brick, rising up proud, with a roof that had gables and a central tower, the kind of silhouette that said, in no uncertain terms, that this county meant business. For over thirty years, that courthouse stood as the center of county life, the place where official business got done, where decisions got made, where Cameron County conducted itself with the full weight of government behind it.

Then came 1914. A new courthouse was erected, and just like that, the old girl was passed along. Rio Grande Lodge No. 81, A.F.&A.M. stepped in and took up residence in the structure.

And somewhere along the way, during the remodeling that followed, the original roof came down. The gables, the central tower, all of it removed. What had crowned that building for decades, gone.

Now, you can't always keep everything that made a place what it once was. But at least the marker remembers.

What the marker says

Completed in 1883, this was the first courthouse built by Cameron County officials, who previously rented or purchased office space. This three-story brick structure served as the county courthouse until 1914, when a new building was erected. Rio Grande Lodge No. 81, A.F.&A.M., then occupied this structure. The original roof, with its gables and central tower, was removed during remodeling.