Matagorda County, Bay City
Matagorda County Courthouse. It was hard to get a good picture of this courthouse because of a local festival and vendor booths littering the courthouse square. We got there just as the rain was coming and the vendors were packing up.
Several buildings served as the Matagorda County courthouse. An ante bellum house was used in 1849. This Second Empire building was completed in 1895. A Spainish Renaissance Revival was built in 1928 but was demolished in 1963. Two years later the current courthouse was completed.
Walking around the courthouse square we came across this mural of the 1895 courthouse painted on the stairwell of one of the corner buildings.
Of course, I had to get my picture taken with it as well. It counts, doesn't it?
This monument is kind of a catch all dedication of ealy Matagorda County. Pictured is La Salle and a Karankawa Indian.
Written on the plaque: “Early home of the Karankawa Indians, landing place of La Salle in 1685. Settled 1822-1836 by colonists of Stephen F. Austin. The municipality of Matagorda, organized under the Mexican government on March 6, 1864, became , on March 17, 1836, Matagorda County, which was organized in July, 1837. Matagorda, the county seat, 1837-1984”
The monument includes dedications to early Texas settlers, Mary Wightman Helms (first woman teacher in Texas), members of the Convention of 1832, delegates to the consultation, signers of The Declaration of Independence, those who served during the struggle for Texas Independence, and others.
The Courthouse and Me
