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An Old Land Mark.
Bay View Hotel Which Was Court House Over Half Century Being Moved.
To make room on the town’s spacious and attractive
public square, a double block at the head of Bay Avenue, the old
courthouse is being moved to the Bay front.
When the county seat was moved to Bay City, Mr. G. B. Culver
purchased the building and added the wing on the east, arranging
with the Commissioners Court to occupy the ground until the town
wanted it for a public building. That time having arrived, as
indicated by the order of the public school trustees for an election
on June 30th on an issue of bonds to build a brick
schoolhouse, Mr. Culver contracted with Capt. J. W. White to move
the building to the lot south of W. J. Phillips’ store, and fronting
the bay. The main building will go first, is nearly on wheels and
will be ready for the start some time next week.
For the most of the past ten years the building has been run as the
Bay View Hotel, and it has seen prosperous days in that line during
the Oil boom when two to a bed, two and three beds in a room and
cots all along the spacious galleries was supplemented with pallets
all over the yard.
For more than half a century the building was the temple of justice
for one of the original counties of the state. It was the courthouse
in 1851, Mr. Dunbar says, when he landed here from the old country.
Judge Burkhart says that he remembers when he was about 14 years old
court was held in the custom house on corner opposite the Stewart
store (1845) and the courthouse was erected about 1849, making the
building 66 years old. The courthouse was one of the five buildings
which withstood the storm of 1875.
Messrs. Draughn, foreman, Benedict, Smith and Manghum
have charge of the moving.
[We will put a copy of this issue of the News in the
cornerstone—also of the school building.
Matagorda News, June 13, 1913
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