Wheeler County, named for early Texas jurist Royal T. Wheeler, was created by the Texas State Legislature in 1876 and organized in 1879, when Mobeetie, then known as Sweetwater, became the county seat. A stone courthouse built from locally quarried materials rose in 1880 and was replaced by a wood frame building in 1888. After the area's growth shifted its center, the town of Wheeler was officially designated county seat in 1908, and the wooden courthouse was moved to this site. By 1913 it had become too small, so a separate county clerk's office was erected on the southwest corner of the courthouse square and enlarged in 1923. A 1925 bond election funded a new courthouse, while the 1888 building was sold to Sheriff Riley Price, who dismantled it and used the lumber for barns on his ranch east of town. Designed by E. H. Eads of Shamrock and built by local contractors Hughes and Campbell, the 1925 courthouse, with its Palladian windows and Corinthian columns, reflects the Classical Revival style favored for American public buildings of its era. Gas heat and a water system were installed in 1926, the 1913 county clerk's office was torn down in 1929, curbs and sidewalks were in place after the summer of 1930, the streets on all four sides of the courthouse were paved in 1944, and the surrounding streets in the late 1970s. Standing prominently on the town square, the courthouse continues to serve as the center of local government.