>From pages 81-83 of my "People and Places, Gazetteer of Hamilton County, TX. " Cutting and pasting into an e-mail does create havac with formatting. The town of Hamilton has always had a square, but the first court house was not erected until 1878. Hamilton courthouses have included: 1. Livery station--1858 to 1863--destroyed by fire, September, 1863. (Purchased from Levy Terry) 2. James Monroe Rices store--23 September, 1863--31 March, 1867 3. Jones Store House--1 April, 1867--4 April, 1869 (Owned by G. W. Loyd) 4. Hamilton School House--5 April, 1869--1871 5. Second floor of Frances Marion Graves & Company stone building, 1871--17 March, 1877--destroyed by fire (The county paid $300 per year to rent this space.) 6. South room of Crescent Saloon, owned by G. H. Goodson--5 April, 1877-1878 7. First Courthouse opened 11 March, 1878--destroyed by fire 2 February, 1886 Cost: $11,559. This courthouse was built with native stone in eight months. This two- story courthouse had a foundation two and one half feet deep, a fireproof vault, and four fireplaces on the first floor with flues for stoves on the second floor. In the Spring of 1883 a 190 feet square white fence was erected around the court house at a cost of $989.50. Before the end of the summer a chain was added around the fence to which horses could be hitched. Following the loss of this courthouse on 5 February, 1886, the residents of southwestern Hamilton County petitioned for an election to consider moving the courthouse nearer them. The proposed town site of the new countyseat was eight miles south of Hamilton near Shive on the John Dillard Hunt ranch. This movement drew much support and an election to consider relocating the county seat was called for 4 May, 1886. In an effort to retain Hamilton as the countyseat, Hamilton County Commissioners, Simpson Loyd, A. J. Forester, R. Stinnett, J. P. Grundy, and County Judge C. W. Cotton negotiated an agreement with the voters of the southern part of the county to allow the future Mills County to have a strip of land along the southern border of Hamilton County moving the county line from Sims Creek, seven miles south of Center City to McGirk. In the election Hamilton received 878 votes, Pegtown (near Shive) received 689 votes, and Piggtown ( Aleman) received 3 votes. 8. Space rented from F. M. Groves to hold court until courthouse could be rebuilt. February, 1886--February 1887. This was probably an upstairs room on the NW corner of the square in a building occupied by J. M. Williams and Sons Hardware which collapsed in December, 1976. The county judge, sheriff, and a few other county officials moved their offices to the stone jail. 9. Second Courthouse, 22 February, 1887-- Original cost: $30,700. Courthouse was constructed with native limestone. Cost of extensive remodeling 1932: $55,754. The limestone came from the area which became the city dump grounds for many years. Voters decided on 28 February, 1931, to approve bonds of add wings on the north and the south sides of the 1887 courthouse and to add a basement. Confident that the bond would pass, the Commissioners Court had already started digging the basement before the bonds were approved. Remodeling began in 1931 and was completed and occupied by 13 June, 1932. During the remodeling Courthouse activities were conducted at: a. A movie house b. An office building c. A former barber shop d. Upstairs over a drugstore Elreeta in Hamilton ecw@htcomp.net