The History of Center, Texas

Shelby County is one of the original thirteen counties of Texas, organized by the Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1837 and named for Isaac Shelby, an American military hero and the first governor of Kentucky. The county sits in the deep Piney Woods of far East Texas, along the old roads between Nacogdoches and the Louisiana border.

Center took its name from its location at the geographical center of Shelby County, where it was established as the county seat. From the beginning it was the governmental and commercial hub of this corner of the East Texas frontier.

Center's defining landmark rose in the 1880s. The county contracted with J. J. E. Gibson, an Irish immigrant architect, to build a new courthouse, and in November 1885 it was completed. Gibson designed the two-story structure in the Romanesque Revival style, laid out on a cruciform plan like a European cathedral and supported by masonry buttresses — a building that looks far more like an Irish castle than a Texas courthouse.

It remains standing today as the Historic Shelby County Courthouse, the only Irish castle-style courthouse remaining in the United States. More than a century later, it is still the centerpiece of Center's downtown square and one of the most distinctive public buildings in all of Texas.

Like much of East Texas, Center's early economy was built on the Piney Woods timber industry. But as timber became less lucrative, the town reinvented itself: in the 1950s the poultry industry was introduced, and a handful of visionary local leaders — remembered today at the Poultry Pioneers Plaza — helped build Shelby County into one of the largest poultry producers in Texas.

That poultry industry remains the backbone of the local economy, and the town celebrates it each October with the East Texas Poultry Festival. From timber to chickens, Center adapted and endured, holding onto its role as the heart of Shelby County.