Cora

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, about four miles south of where you're rolling right now, there used to be a town. A real town — county seat, courthouse, the whole arrangement.

Today there's nothing left but a cemetery. That's the story of Cora, and it's worth pulling your attention off the road for a minute. It started in 1854, founded under the name Troy.

Somewhere along the way it got renamed — in honor of a Miss Beeman of Bell County, according to the marker. No first name given, no further explanation. Just a Miss Beeman, and now there's a town carrying her memory in the middle of Comanche County.

Make of that what you will. When Comanche County was organized in 1856 — and mind you, the county back then stretched farther south and east than it does today — Cora became the county seat. Now, what passed for the county courthouse in those days was a log cabin.

A log cabin residence, to be precise, pressed into civic service. That was the first Comanche County Courthouse. Not marble columns.

Not a bell tower. A log cabin. It held that distinction until 1859, when the county seat was relocated to the new town of Comanche.

And once Cora lost that designation, it didn't take long for the rest to follow. The buildings went. The log cabin courthouse eventually reverted to use as a residence — though the marker notes it was later restored and used as part of a museum, the way many former courthouses have found a second life.

But the town itself? Gone. Every last building gone from the site of Old Cora.

Only that cemetery remains. The oldest cemetery in Comanche County, standing out there quietly in the grass like it's keeping watch over something nobody else stuck around to guard. Now here's the thing — and the marker makes a point of saying this plainly — Cora is not some strange accident of history.

It's an example. Across the 254 counties of Texas, there have been 126 cases of redesignation of county seats. A hundred and twenty-six times, some town that was the center of things got passed over for somewhere else.

Two counties have each been through five county seats. Five. The reasons the marker gives are boundary changes — like what happened right here in Comanche County — shifts in travel routes when the railroads came through, and the pull from agrarian to industrial economy.

Towns that made sense in one era simply didn't in the next. So the next time you drive through a county seat and think, well, this place has always been the center of things — just remember Cora. Four miles south.

Founded 1854. County seat by 1856. Gone by 1859 as a seat of power, and eventually gone altogether.

Nothing left but the dead, resting in the oldest cemetery in the county, in a town that the living long ago moved on from.

What the marker says

First County Seat of Comanche County: Cora (about 4 miles south) Founded 1854, as Troy. Later renamed in honor of a Miss Beeman of Bell County. In 1856 organization of Comanche County -- then extending farther south and east than today's boundaries -- Cora became county seat. A log cabin residence in Cora was the first Comanche County Courthouse, serving until the county seat was relocated in 1859 in new town of Comanche. That first courthouse and all the other buildings are gone from site of Old Cora. Only a cemetery -- the oldest in Comanche County -- remains. Thus Cora is an example of the many early, important towns no longer existent in Texas. In the 254 counties of Texas, there have been 126 cases of redesignation of county seats. (Two counties have had five county seats each.) Boundary changes (as in Comanche County), shifts in travel routes (as when railroads were built), changes from agrarian to industrial economy have caused counties to move their county seats to new locations. Old courthouses have found later usefulness as ranch headquarters, municipal buildings, or private homes. The first log cabin courthouse of Comanche County reverted to use as a residence, but later was restored and used -- as are many former courthouses -- as part of a museum. (1968)