 bee county is a county located in the u.s. state of texas. as of the 2010 census, the population was 31,861. its county seat is beeville. the county was founded december 8, 1857 and is named for barnard e. bee, sr., a secretary of state of the republic of texas. the beeville, tx micropolitan statistical area includes all of bee county. ==history== on december 8, 1857, bee county was formed from portions of san patricio, goliad, refugio, live oak, and karnes counties. the first spanish grant in the area was made to carlos martÃ­nez in 1789. the first permanent settlers, jeremiah o'tool, his sons martin and michael, and james o'reilly, sailed from ireland in 1826. bee county, named for barnard e. bee sr., was established shortly after the settlement of the cart war, which originated ten miles east of the site of beeville. ==bee county courthouse== the bee county courthouse was designed by the architect william charles stephenson, originally from buffalo, new york. the original courthouse, completed in 1912, cost $72,000. he also sculpted the "justice is blind" monument (in his own words, an "enlightened justice") that tops the courthouse; he intentionally chose the "non-blindfolded" concept. the structure uses the chicago window style of a glass pane flanked by two narrow ones. it is classical with the grand portico having corinthian columns at the entry.historical marker, bee county courthouse, beeville, texas stephenson also designed the rialto theater in beeville, now used for special occasion, not the running of films, which is located close to the joe barnhart library. he helped construct the death mask of u.s. president william mckinley, who was assassinated in buffalo in 1901. stephenson also designed the courthouse in mcmullen county, texas and many other buildings,
1857_establishments_in_the_United_States Texas_counties