Historical Period: Republic of Texas (1836-1845)
Historical Topic: County Courthouses, Frontier Settlements
Species: Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana)
County: Brazos
Public Access: Yes, the Courthouse Cedar is located in front of the Brazos County Courthouse, in Bryan.
With the exception of fallen leaves or scattered nuts, we don’t usually think of trees as being on the move. But for nearly 175 years the Courthouse Cedar is one tree that has defied convention, having been relocated a number of times and stood watch over five county courthouses.
This eastern redcedar’s life began as a wild seedling near the Ferguson Springs crossing of the Navasota River. At about the same time, in January of 1841, the Congress of the Republic of Texas passed an act creating Navasota County (now Brazos County). This act also determined that the district court would be held in the home of settler Joseph Ferguson until provisions allowed for a permanent county seat location. The Courthouse Cedar was growing on Ferguson’s property, next to his home, during the first district court session held there in March of 1841.
Later that year, the small village of Boonville was selected as the county seat (Sam Houston made it one of his campaign stops) and a one-room, log cabin courthouse was constructed out of post oaks by local volunteers from each district. By 1854, a larger, two-story frame building was built on the same site as the log cabin courthouse. It was at this location that the “Father of Brazos County,” early Boonville settler Col. Harvey Mitchell (1821–1901) chose to relocate the redcedar that was just a seedling at the Ferguson home during that first district court session. Thirteen years on, the tree had grown into a beautiful specimen worthy of representing the new county courthouse.
In 1866, the county seat was moved for the last time, three miles west to Bryan. This courthouse was made of brick and erected on the current courthouse square in 1870. The decision was later made to move the historic redcedar from Boonville to Bryan, and Colonel Mitchell himself supervised its careful relocation. The Courthouse Cedar thrived in what would prove to be its final location. It even outlasted the brick courthouse, which was deemed unsafe and replaced in 1891 by a stone building. Today’s courthouse, built at the same location in 1957, has continued to weather the test of time.
The gnarled Courthouse Cedar is only a fraction of what it used to be, but it has withstood much over the years—relocations, wrecking crews, and severe drought, to name but a few. But it bears generous seed every year, and offspring of the tree have already been planted around the county, extending the tree’s legacy.