Founded in 1854 as Troy and later renamed for a Miss Beeman of Bell County, Cora became the county seat when Comanche County was organized in 1856, then extending farther south and east than its present boundaries. A log cabin residence in Cora served as the first Comanche County courthouse until the county seat was moved in 1859 to the new town of Comanche. That first courthouse and all the other buildings at Old Cora are gone, and only a cemetery, the oldest in Comanche County, remains. Cora stands as an example of the many early, important Texas towns that no longer exist. Among Texas's 254 counties, there have been 126 redesignations of county seats, caused by boundary changes, shifts in travel routes such as the coming of railroads, and changes from an agrarian to an industrial economy. Old courthouses have later been used as ranch headquarters, municipal buildings, private homes, or as part of museums, and Comanche County's first log cabin courthouse returned to residential use before later being restored and used as part of a museum.