Tyler, Then and Now
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1852: The brick courthouse

Log courthouses, then one of brick in the middle of the square, in use until 1908.

Town and civic· 1852–1858

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What the sources put on the map by 1858, over today’s streets.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The record

  1. 1846 to 1848

    Smith County’s own history says its first courthouse was a log cabin on West Erwin Street in 1846, followed by a log courthouse on East Ferguson in 1847 and a 520-square-foot log courthouse on the square in 1848. The Handbook of Texas puts the first one on the north side of the square, and another in its center in 1847.12

  2. From 1848

    Marvin Methodist’s congregation, which the downtown nomination calls the first of any denomination organized in Smith County, meets in the log cabins on the courthouse square. The Handbook says a Methodist church was organized in 1846.3

  3. 1849

    John Lollar sells land and reserves five acres for burials: Oakwood Cemetery, on North Palace Avenue at West Oakwood Street, which the Tyler MPS calls the town’s oldest. The first burials there are thought to date to 1846; the oldest marked grave is from 1852.4

  4. 1852

    The county builds its first brick courthouse in the middle of the square, two stories and 40 by 60 feet. The old log courthouse is moved and used as the jail.12

  5. 1855 to 1858

    Alfred W. Ferguson builds five brick stores on the northwest side of the square, and Col. George Yarbrough a three-story dry-goods building on the northeast side.5

  6. Until 1908

    Remodeled and expanded, the brick courthouse serves until 1908.1

Notes

  1. Smith County, Courthouse Planning (including 'The Story of Our Courthouses') (smith-county.com). Smith County's own history lists a log cabin on West Erwin Street (1846), a log courthouse on East Ferguson (1847) and a 520-square-foot log courthouse on the square (1848); the Handbook says the first log courthouse stood on the north side of the square and another was built in the center of the square in 1847. Research notes

  2. Handbook of Texas: Tyler, TX (Christopher Long) (tshaonline.org); National Register nomination, Tyler Downtown Historic District (NRHP 100008283) (atlas.thc.texas.gov). The downtown nomination says the brick courthouse came 'after two log building replacements'; the Handbook describes one log courthouse on the north side and another built in 1847 in the center. Research notes

  3. National Register nomination, Tyler Downtown Historic District (NRHP 100008283) (atlas.thc.texas.gov). The Handbook says a Methodist church was organized in 1846; the nomination says the congregation met on the square starting in 1848. Research notes

  4. National Register Multiple Property Documentation Form, Historic and Architectural Resources of Tyler, Texas (2001) (atlas.thc.texas.gov). The MPS also lists Oakwood as dating to 1846, the year of the first burials thought to have occurred there. Research notes

  5. Handbook of Texas: Tyler, TX (Christopher Long) (tshaonline.org). Research notes

About this plate

  • The brick courthouse stood in the middle of the square; it has no pin of its own. The square’s pin marks the block OpenStreetMap calls Tyler City Square, the western half of the old square.
  • Oakwood Cemetery: a filled pin marks the place the sources tie the event to. 32.35377° N, 95.30927° W, from OpenStreetMap way/307810593.
  • The faint numbered tiles are the 1847 plat, drawn as a schematic: the sources give 28 blocks around a central square, not where they stood.
  • The faint linework is today’s map, from OpenStreetMap. How the map is made.