DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, when Comanche County came into being in 1856, somebody had to be first — and that somebody was Cora. Platted about ten miles southeast of where you're standing, Cora was laid out to serve as the county seat, the beating heart of a brand new Texas county.
And it needed a courthouse. Oh, it got one, alright. Don't let your imagination run too wild, though — because what passed for a courthouse in those early days was a one-room squared log structure, all of twelve feet and seven inches wide, twelve feet and ten inches deep.
You could pace it off in a few good strides. But that little room was the law. That was where Comanche County conducted its business, sorted out its disputes, and put its name on the official record of Texas.
Then came 1859. The seat of government packed up and moved to Comanche, and just like that, Cora's moment had passed. Towns without a county seat have a way of fading, and Cora faded.
The town itself is gone now — extinct, as the marker plainly puts it. But here's the part of the story that ought to stop you in your tracks. That courthouse didn't vanish.
Around 1880, somebody looked at that old squared log room and decided it was too good to waste. It got folded right into a house — incorporated, walls and all, into somebody's home. And since then, it's been moved.
More than once. A courthouse that started as a one-room log box, became part of a house, and then went wandering across the Texas landscape. It's still out there, standin' as a reminder of Cora, of early Texas courthouse architecture, and of just how stubborn a well-built log room can be.
Some things refuse to disappear, even when the town around them does.
What the marker says
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