McMullen Co., TX Courthouse History & Photos

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The McMullen County Courthouse is located in Tilden, Texas on River & Elm Street.

	McMullen County was created in 1858 and in 1862 the county was organized, but abandoned because of bandit activities in the thicket area during the civil war. In 1871 John C. Ross, district clerk of Live Oak County, established the first county court. The court met for about 5 months, but was disbanded because the people refused to use it. The county seat in Oakville, Live Oak County was used for all legal matters up until 1877. Some records, such as marriage, will also be found in Atascosa County.
In 1877 when the county was officially organized Dogtown was chosen as the county seat and the town's name was changed to Tilden. That same year a courthouse was built. The photo to the right is the original McMullen County Courthouse, photographed here in 1925.
	This courthouse building was erected in 1930 and still serves as the courthouse in Tilden today. This photo was submitted by Paul Gerdes and was found among his grandfather W. C. Stephenson's possessions. William Charles Stephenson was a local architect from Beeville in Bee County, Texas and may have designed the building.
This courthouse photo was taken in 1955 and was submitted by Sharon Pierce.
	The following 5 photos are used with permission from Mark Harris and the Harris Architects Firm. This firm was involved with the McMullen County Courthouse Historic Preservation/Renovations - Tilden, TX (1997) Note: that by 1997 the chimneys have been removed.
This is a first floor hallway in the courthouse. All 4 doors of the courthouse lead to a central point in the building creating 2 main hallways.
	This stairwell goes up to the second floor and is located on one of the main 1st floor hallways. The courtroom is located through the first door on the right at the top of the stairs.
This is a view of the top of the stairwell in the previous photo. The back wall of this stairwell has a large window that helps light the stairwell and hallway.
	This is the McMullen County Courtroom that is located on the second floor of the building.
	The Courthouse photographed here by Renee Smelley on July 26, 2002.
McMullen County Historic Courthouse Texas Historical Marker:Dark brick with limestone water table, window lintels and sills. Symmetrical facades with shall temple entries supported by Doric columns. Four square plan with corbelled chimneys and curvilinear dormers. Original pressed metal ceilings in courtroom.	Currently No Photo

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