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 July 16, 2008 | Tyler County Courthouse Texas County Courthouse Project #14 Tyler County (Woodville, Texas) Created by the Texas legislature on April 3, 1846, Tyler County was named for U.S. President John Tyler. Tyler favored Texas annexation by the United States and worked with the Senate on a compromise that those in the north, who were wary of the addition of another southern state, could agree to. Tyler set into motion what his successor, James K. Polk, would finish in December of 1845; the annexation of Texas. The original county seat of Tyler County was Town Bluff, but in 1845 Dr. Josiah Wheat donated land for a new county seat named Woodville. Woodville is named for the second governor of Texas, George T. Wood. Wood fought in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson and fought the battle at Horseshoe Bend in Alabama along side another future Texas governor, Sam Houston. Wood was in the Texas Senate in 1846 when he resigned to lead a company of volunteers into Monterrey during the Mexican War. He was elected governor in 1847. As a Senator, Wood introduced a bill to establish Tyler County and lived in Point Blank, in nearby San Jacinto County, where he is buried. The Tyler County courthouse was built in 1891 but went through a major remodeling in the 1930’s. It is a perfect example of the sad story of some of the great courthouses in Texas. While some were preserved to become icons for civic pride, others, like the one in Woodville, fell victim to “modernization” or were even unceremoniously demolished to make way for bigger and more modern buildings. Luckily for Woodville at least most of the original building is intact under a layer of plaster. According to texasescapes.com, Tyler County has asked for funding from the State to return their courthouse to its original condition which would require the addition of gables and the clock tower. Hopefully they’ll be able to turn back the clock and get their courthouse back. Original Courthouse before remodeling, photo from texasescapes.com 
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