Groveton was laid out in 1881 by the Trinity County and Sabine Pass Land and Railway Company when the I&GN Railroad came through the area, and Trinity County voters chose it as the county seat the following year. A temporary frame courthouse at what is now Main and First streets served the county until 1884, when government offices moved into a brick building at this site. Because that construction proved unsound, county commissioners in the early 1900s became concerned about the safety of county records and hired W.A. Norris to build a records vault exactly like one L.S. Green had designed for Polk County, paying Green for the use of his plans; the county moved its records there in 1908. In late 1913, county commissioners hired C.H. Page and Bros. of Austin to design a new courthouse that would incorporate the 1908 records vault, and the rectilinear Classical Revival structure, accepted in July the next year, featured a full-height portico with paired Tuscan columns, a brick parapet, denticulation, corbelled window surrounds, and stepped wings. The courthouse remains a center of county life, hosting parades, rallies, and festivals, recording births, marriages, and deaths, and standing as a symbol of justice, unified citizenry, and the county's preserved heritage.