In 1894, the Van Zandt County Commissioners Court approved construction of a new brick courthouse at this site. Built between 1894 and 1896, it replaced a frame courthouse that had served the county since shortly after the Civil War. The noted San Antonio Architect J. Riely Gordon designed the 1896 courthouse in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. Built on a Greek cross plan, it features a three-story main structure and a six-story central tower with a copper eagle statue at the top. The building was torn down in the 1930s. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986