De Witt County Courthouse

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm inclined to trust the marker on this one. De Witt County got itself organized in 1846, with Cameron serving as the first seat of government. That arrangement didn't hold forever.

By 1850, Clinton had taken over as county seat, and Clinton held that title for a good long while. Then 1876 came around, and the seat of government moved again, this time to Cuero. Now here's the part that sticks with you: when Cuero became the new seat, they didn't just leave the old courthouse behind in Clinton.

That two-story frame building got picked up and moved, lock, stock, and timber, right to the new town. You have to appreciate the audacity of that. They moved the whole courthouse.

But that building's story didn't end well. April of 1894, it burned. Gone.

And the county got back to work almost immediately. Construction on the present courthouse began that same year, 1894, and ran through to 1896. The design came from A.

O. Watson, and the work was completed under the supervision of Eugene Heiner. What they built is something to see.

A Richardson Romanesque structure, strongly influenced by H. H. Richardson's Allegheny County Courthouse.

Three stories of sandstone and granite, flanking pavilions on either side, and rising up through all of it, a six-story clock tower. When it was finished in 1896, they held a dedication ceremony. And in 2007, more than a century later, the courthouse was rededicated with a ceremony patterned after that original 1896 event.

Some things, it turns out, are worth doing twice.

What the marker says

De Witt County organized in 1846 with Cameron as the first seat of government. Clinton was county seat from 1850 to 1876, when its two-story frame courthouse was moved to the new seat of Cuero. That building burned in April 1894. The present courthouse was built from 1894 to 1896, designed by A.O. Watson and completed under supervision of Eugene Heiner. The Richardson Romanesque building, strongly influenced by H. H. Richardson's Allegheny County Courthouse, is a three-story sandstone and granite courthouse with a six-story clock tower and flanking pavilions. In 2007, the courthouse was rededicated with a ceremony patterned after the 1896 original dedication. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966