Jacksonport became the county seat in 1853. Delayed by the Civil War, courthouse construction did not begin until 1869, and it was completed in 1872. When the county seat moved to Newport in 1892, the building became a school, a cotton gin, the county poor house for 40 years, and later grain storage before being abandoned. In 1962, it was purchased for $2,500 and restored by the Jacksonport County Historical Society. Jacksonport State Park was created in 1965.