WELCOME TO HUNTSVILLE 2024 | 31
FIVE COURTHOUSES OF WALKER COUNTY
The first Walker County Courthouse was available for county commissioners court meetings in July 1848 , with the building finally completed in the center of the Huntsville public square in 1850 . Because of a defective foundation , a second courthouse replaced it by 1853 . Repairs made in 1856 did not hold long . The design for the third county courthouse featured a grand jury house in the southwest corner of the grounds rather than inside the courthouse itself . Dubbed “ The Little Courthouse ,” the grand jury house was completed and in use by 1861 .
Construction on the main courthouse was interrupted by the Civil War ; and was finished in 1869 , but major repairs were necessary within a couple of years . On the first day of 1888 the grand jury house was again called into service after the main courthouse burned . The commissioners court selected Eugene T . Heiner of Houston to design a new building .
That structure , the fourth Walker County Courthouse , gradually welcomed back the social and religious groups of the county . Other uses included the Walker County Fair of 1912 and a lecture series sponsored by Texas A & M University in 1914 . The interior of the building burned in 1968 . At that time , it was one of the 25 oldest courthouses in the state of Texas . The fifth Walker County Courthouse , a modern brick and steel structure , was completed in 1970 . It remained in service to this day . — The current courthouse is located at 1100 University Ave .
WELCOME TO HUNTSVILLE 2024 | 31