Casa Consistatorial (Courthouse Square)

Originally one of five squares platted for public use in 1831 by J. Francisco Madero, the Mexican government's General Land Commissioner, this square stood at the center of efforts to survey the Atascosito area and grant long-awaited land titles to Texan colonists under the 1825 Law of Colonization. With Madero's agreement, colonists received rights of local self-government, including choosing the seat of government, and by a narrow vote Smith's Plantation, now Liberty, was selected over Moss Bluff. From the first courthouse there, a small hewn log building 22 feet square built in 1831, Madero reported election results to the chief of the Department of Bexar, and congratulations arrived from Mexican officials in Bejar, Nava, Villa de Rosa, and Abasolo. The town was renamed Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de la Libertad and became known as Liberty. The courthouse later drew prominent Texans, including Sam Houston as a practicing lawyer, and became the site of notable trials, including a dual murder case in which David G. Burnet represented the defendants. Burnet's appeal of that verdict before the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos led to his election as the ad interim and first President of the Republic of Texas before Texas gained its independence.

Liberty, Texas · United States