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History Goliad County courthouses:
Goliad County has had four courthouses. A description of early Goliad, written by a citizen who lived in the town in 1849, mentions a "one-room courthouse." No details of construction or materials used are given. The next courthouse was a two-story wooden building. It was destroyed by fire in June of 1870. Following this a two-story stone courthouse was built with a wooden stairway on the outside of the building. The courthouse square was enclosed by an iron fence with a series of wooden steps assending and over the fence, one series on each of the four sides of the enclosure. A well, windmill and watering trough for horses ware at the southwest corner. Hitching posts surrounded the square. This courthouse was valued at $10,000 as shown by insurance premiums. The stone courthouse was razed and some of the stone from it was used in the construction of a three-story limestone and brick Gothic style building, which was completed in 1894 at a cost of $67,880. This structure has been in continual use from 1894 to 1964 with little repair. It was used as a hos- pital following a cyclone in May of 1902, which destroyed a large part of the town and killed many citizens. The central dome on the roof was completely blown away bnd other damage done to the building by a storm in 1942. The iron fence was removed in 1926 and part of it was used to enclose "annin's grave.