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 August 26, 2008 | San Augustine County Courthouse Texas County Courthouse Project #42: San Augustine County (San Augustine, Texas) Four hundred and sixty years ago, the Spanish explorer Luis de Moscoso Alvarado and his Moscoso expedition crossed the future county of San Augustine. They were the first Europeans to enter into the area that had been inhabited by the Ayish tribe of the Hasinai Indians for centuries. In 1691, Domingo Terán de los Ríos blazed a path through the forest creating the Royal Road, better known as El Camino Real. The Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Ais Mission was built here in 1717 but abandoned due to the constant threat of a French invasion from the east. With the French no longer a threat, the community of Ayish Bayou began attracting settlers in the late 1700’s. By the 1830’s the community was thriving and for the Convention of 1833 they sent one of their residents to represent them, a man named Sam Houston. In 1834 the land around Ayish Bayou was purchased for a new town and San Augustine was born. Both the county seat and the county (formed in 1836 after the Texas Revolution) was named for Saint Augustine of Hippo. Saint Augustine was born on November 13, 354 in Algeria and was influential in the development of Western Christianity. The first governor of Texas, James Pinckney Henderson was a citizen of San Augustine and practiced law there in the 1840’s. He has a statue in his honor in front of the courthouse. They call San Augustine the cradle of Texas and for my family it’s a fitting title. My Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Jackson Fitzgerald, moved his family to San Augustine County in the late 1830’s. He was a citizen of the Republic of Texas and a veteran of the War of 1812. He is buried in San Augustine County next to my Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother Sarah Fitzgerald. The San Augustine Courthouse is a straight forward 1927 Classical Revival style structure. The Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program awarded the county $3,727,131 in February of 2008 for the restoration of the building. After walking inside it looks like they’ve already started clearing out. 
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