East Texas Quarterly Magazine Spring 2014 | Page 20
design and is the only Irish castle style courthouse
remaining in the United States.
The present area of Shelby County was a part of
the Municipality of Tenaha when Mexico became
independent of Spain in 1821, and the most
important town was Nashville which was created
in 1824.
When Texas became independent from Mexico in
1836, the Congress of the Republic of Texas created
Shelby County, naming it after an American
Revolutionary soldier named Isaac Shelby. The
county was organized in 1837, and Shelbyville, which
was once called Nashville, became the county seat.
In 1866 a legislative act was passed requiring all
county seats to be located in the center of the county.
Center became the county seat and was named
for its central location. Two Shelby County natives,
Sydney O. Penington and William Crawford, were
signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Penington is buried in Shelbyville. Crawford was a
Methodist preacher, and is said to have held the first
service in the Methodist Church at Shelbyville.
18
East Texas Quarterly