Gregg County was formed in 1873 and Longview was chosen as county seat. The first temporary courthouse was a small building at the corner of Fredonia and Tyler streets. It soon proved inadequate, however, and another temporary courthouse was set up on the second floor of the 2-story W. G. Northcutt Hardware Store. The only brick building in town, the Northcutt Store was also the only structure to survive a devastating downtown fire in 1877. The county built a jail in 1874, and levied a special tax to finance construction of a permanent courthouse. Designed by F. E. Ruffini and completed in 1879, the French Second Empire style building featured a mansard roof and a central clock tower. Structural problems were soon evident, however, and by 1896 the building was condemned and demolished. A new red brick Romanesque Revival courthouse, designed by Fort Worth architect Marshall R. Sanguinet, was completed on the square in 1897. The East Texas oil boom of the 1930s resulted in overwhelming business at the courthouse, and by 1932 the county had replaced the red brick courthouse with a modern Art Deco building. Enlarged over the years with several additions, it still serves the county. (1997)