Old Cameron County Courthouse

Cameron County was organized in 1848 by the Texas Legislature and was carved out of Nueces County. The county was named for a Scottish-born Texan soldier, Ewen Cameron, who was shot and killed in 1843 on order of Mexican General Santa Anna, after entering Mexico to defend San Antonio. Brownsville was elected the county seat on August 7th 1848.

Cross Construction Company was the contractor for the new courthouse for Cameron County in 1912. This building replaced the first permanent county courthouse which stood at East Twelfth and Jefferson Street since 1866. The prior courthouse, a two-story brick building, became a Masonic Temple. The new courthouse occupies the center of the block, surrounded by landscaping and parking areas. The footprint of about 100 by 120 feet encloses three stories over a raised basement. Four matching entrances are in the center of each of the structure's facades. The entrances are ornamented with columns topped with Corinthian capitals, a frieze inscribed "CAMERON COUNTY COURTHOUSE" and a parapet bearing a terra cotta crest with the date "1912." The pilasters also are topped by Corinthian capitals. The interior is even more impressive than the exterior. A three-story rotunda is topped by a dome of stained glass; lavish plaster ornamentation is evident on walls and ceilings.

The courthouse was remodeled in 1965 by a local company, Bowman, Swanson and Heister. The former two-story courtroom on the building's second floor was modified to create office space, a reception area and a conference room on the third floor. A jury room and restrooms were added to the courtroom on the second floor. The remainder of the third floor was remodeled in 1968 and became a county court of law, public hearing room, judge's chamber, coffee bar, attorney's conference room and jury room. The building was renovated again when it was city offices, in 2006; the $12 million project focused mainly on the interior. The exterior was restored in 2018 at a cost of around $3 million, with damaged terra cotta replaced over windows, entrances, and the decorative molding along the top of the building. The Old Cameron County Courthouse is within the Downtown Brownsville National Register Historic District, roughly bounded by E. Charles Street, E. 14th Street, E. Monroe Street, and E. 10th Street.

Alvarez, Andy. Smith, Katherine L NRHP Nomination of Cameron County Courthouse. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1980.

Mariner, Cosmos. Old Cameron County Courthouse, Historical Marker Database. June 29th 2018. Accessed September 21st 2020. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=118639#.

Shah, Pino. Dancy Building, Brownsville, Texas, artbypino blog. January 26th 2020. Accessed September 21st 2020. https://www.artbypino.com/blog/dancy-building-brownsville.

Tamez-Robledo, Nadia. "Dancy Building exterior undergoing restoration." Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX) August 6th 2018. , Local News sec.

White, John P.. Bird, Betty. Historic American Buildings Survey of Cameron County Courthouse, 1150 East Madison, Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas. HABS TX-3272. Washington, DC. Department of the Interior, 1977.