Livingston, established in 1835 by Moses L. Choate from Livingston, Tennessee, was made the county seat in 1846. Its proximity to the Trinity River (now supplying Lake Livingston to the west) provided transport of timber and locally made milled goods. In a dispute over prohibition and the illicit alcohol business, the town center was destroyed by fire in 1902, with the exception of the masonry courthouse. Livingston has been “dry” ever since. The tracks of the Houston East and West Texas Railway built through the town in 1880 sliced off a corner of the courthouse square. Although the timber industry had diminished by the 1920s, the discovery of oil nearby in 1932 brought renewed growth.
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