Judge J. E. Dillard, by instruction of the county commissioners, advertised for sealed bids to erect a stone courthouse for Kaufman County.

"The building is to be constructed out of good stone, each stone being personally inspcted by the architect Mr. Dunson of Waco. The building is to be 98 x 114 feet.  The outside walls are to be 60 feet high.  From the ground to the top of the tower will be 124 feet.  The base of the walls will be six feet wide, laid in cement and gravel two feet thick. The foundation stones will be six feet long and one foot thick and laid cross ways. The foundation will be of the very best quality of blue limestone up to the first water table, about four feet.  The walls, in and outside, all the way to roof, will be of good stone two feet thick.  The corner stones will be of White Kaoline - a very beautiful rock, susceptable of a fine finish.  The stairways are to be of iron, excepting those in the tower.  There will be three stories - county and district court rooms and clerk's offices and grand jury room.  The building will be a facsimile of the Weatherford courthouse save the corners and height of tower, which will be six feet highter than the Weatherford courthouse tower.  In the tower there will be a place for a clock, but as yet the court will not buy a clock.  The building is to be completed by October Ist 1887.  After that date, if the building is not completed according to contract and specifications, a forfeit of fifteen dollars a day will be deducted from cost."

      The commissioners court convened and opened the sealed bids ranging from $67,965.00 to $87,000.00.  Low bidder did not accompany his bid by a bond, hence the next lowest bidder was given the contract in the amount of $69,569.00 to Aubrey, Solan and Laude.

      Plans were soon underway for a beautiful new courthouse on the square at Kaufman.  The old courthouse was to be moved to an adjoining vacant lot by Mr. John Bryant of Dallas for $450.00.  Court will be held in it while the new courthouse is being built.  In the March 25, 1886 issue of the Kaufman Sun "Mr. John Bryant of Dallas took hold of the old courthouse Saturday and moved it to the middle of the street. By this evening he will have it located on the jail block, just in front of the jail, where it will remain until the new courthouse is completed, then it will be removed to the poor farm and remodeled into a county hospitol."  In August of 1884 the old jail had been moved to the county farm and a brand new stone jail was built.

      On July 9, 1887 the new courthouse was accepted and county officers ordered to move into it. This grand old stone building was to serve the county for over seventy years.

      The clock as mentioned in the specifications was never installed, at least one that had works.  The dome with the artificial clocks was removed around 1900 after being struck by lightning several times.  The Confederate monument of General Robert E. Lee was erected in 1911 with funds raised by the Daughters of the Confederacy.

      The old stone building was torn down early in 1955 and way was made for a modern two story building.  The Confederate monument base and statue were removed for its protection while the old building was being torn down.  The monument was polished and replaced on the court yard of the new courthouse.

      Ground breaking ceremonies were conducted in March of 1955 at the site of the new Kaufman County Courthouse.  Former County Judge Fred W. Bankhead, who was the County Judge when the new building was authorized and the contract let in late December of 1954, turned the first shovel of dirt.  Members of the Commissioners' Court during the planning stage were Oscar Garner, L. E. Bragg, O. C. Phillips and Harvie Easterly, presided over by Judge Bankhead.