On April 17,1851, the townsite of Kaufman was deeded by Francis A. Tabor to special commissioners who had been appointed to lay out the county seat of Kaufman County.  The first lots were sold shortly thereafter.  The county government moved to the new town in November, 1851 and soon made arrangements for a place to hold court.  G. R. Paschal was paid by the county commissioners for having repaired a building in which to hold court in November, 1851.  By February, 1852, a building existed which was clearly designated to be the court house, since the commissioners provided that certain elec- tions would be held "at the Court House in the Town of Kaufman."

      This first court house was not on the court house square, instead, it was on the southwest corner of Washington and Mulberry Streets.  The one-room, frame structure measured twenty by thirty feet, had two windows, and was heated by a single fireplace.  Not surprisingly, this structure soon became too small for the needs of the county; moreover, beginning in 1856, the court house required frequent and expensive repairs.  Consequently, the commissioners arranged to have plans drawn for a new court house in October, 1858.

      Bids for the construction of the new court house were received in January, 1859.  Hugh Yarbrough of Tyler had the best bid, and the contract was made final in August, 1859.  Brick for the building was made in Kaufman, while the lumber probably was from Henderson county.

      By April, 1861, the second court house of Kaufman County was complete.  It was a two story brick building forty-four feet square.  The court room was upstairs, while four offices were downstairs.  The northeast corner room was for the County Clerk, the southeast was for the District Clerk, and the two western rooms were for the Sheriff and the County Surveyor, but were reserved for juries during District Court.

      On April 12,1861, the county commissioners voted to accept the court house for $5,800 which was $525 less than the contract price.  Chief Justice Cary Cobb thought the building was worth even less than that.  He argued that the foundation, bricks, mortar, roof timbers, shingles, and the lumber used in the stairway were all of inferior material.  In fact, the commissioners had earlier declared that the brick was unsatisfactory. Despite Cobb's protest, the commissioners upheld the price of $5,800 and moved into the court house on May 20, 1861.

      Almost immediately, Cobb's worst fears came true.  In August, 1861, after only three months of use, the roof of the court house was leaking.  In November, 1861, the commissioners set aside $150 to buy iron to brace the building.  These efforts were not successful, so the court house was abandoned in November, 1862.  A special committee, after examining the building, found that it was unsafe for public use on December 9, 1862.

      The old wooden court house still stood, but it had been sold to M. G. L. Morris in June, 1861; consequently, the county government had no place to go when the brick court house was abandoned.  For a few months, the offices of Dr. W. H. Pyle were rented.  The county was fortunate that M. G. L. Morris had never paid his note on the old court house, for on May 21,1863, the note was cancelled, and the county got the wooden court house back.  After some repairs were made to the building, the county officials moved to it in July, 1863.

      The wooden court house, the county's first, continued its second life throughout the rest of the Civil War, but by June, 1868, it was unsuitable for use.  The Presbyterian Church, which then stood on the southwest corner of Houston and Barnes streets, was rented for holding court from August, 1868 to October, 1870.  The Methodist Church, which was in the same location as the present one, was used for District Court in February, 1871 and for Grand Jury in June, 1871.  The wooden court house was sold again in May, 1870, and burned on April 17, 1883 when it was housing a blacksmith shop.

      During the time that the courts were being held in the churches, the county was building its third court house.  In July, 1869, James Brown, a carpenter in Kaufman, was awarded the contract to build a new court house.  Although the court house was used for court purposes after June, 1871, it was not completed until August 27, 1872.  This third court house was a large, two-story frame building and was fifty feet square.  Inside, on the first floor, there were four twenty by twenty foot offices  for the County Judge, County Clerk, Commissioners' Court, Sheriff, and the Tax Assessor and Collector.  The single upper room was the court room.

      Although this two-story court house was the largest one that the county had had so far, it soon proved to be too small.  Further, because the court house was wooden, fires were constant threats.  In 1875, a brick office for the County Clerk was built on the square next to the court house.  The Clerk's Office suffered the same fate that the brick court house had; it soon cracked and had to be braced.  The commissioners also had two offices built in the upper story of the court house in 1878 to relieve the crowded conditions downstairs.

      The concern for fires continued, and after an election in September, 1885 determined that Kaufman would remain the county seat, the commissioners voted, in December, 1885, to build a new, fireproof, stone court house.  The architectural firm of Dodson and Dudley of Waco designed the new building, and the firm of Aubrey, Solon, and Laude were awarded the construction contract.  The frame court house was moved to the lot at the corner Cherry and Washington streets, beside the jail, in March, 1886 and was used there while the new court house was under construction.  In July, 1887, the new court house was accepted, and the frame court house, Kaufman county's third, was demolished.