Newton, TX

Newton is Newton County's seat, and its courthouse square carries the town's central story. The county's first courthouse went up in Burkeville in 1848, but Newton became the county seat in 1853 after disputes over where the seat should stand. The 1902 courthouse burned in 2000 and was rebuilt to its 1936 exterior, with the clock and bell tower restored in 2012. The square also holds the former S.H. Ford Male and Female College, the Fain Theater, and the Humphrey Hotel. The local shorthand is courthouse clock, county-seat arguments, and a southeast Texas town where history sits around the square.