Fresno County was formed in 1856 from neighboring
Mariposa,
Merced, and
Tulare counties. The mining village of
Millertown was named as the first county seat. The
Central Pacific Railroad located its stop at what would become
Fresno in May 1872, and the county seat was moved there by popular vote in February 1874. While the county seat was in Millerton, discussions began in June 1859 to build a permanent courthouse, sessions being held in up to four different buildings on one-year leases until then, but the county lacked the means to raise funds due to the sparse population until 1866, when a bond issue of was authorized and the building contract for the new courthouse and jail was awarded to Charles P. Converse, who finished the brick and granite building in summer 1867. The 1867 courthouse was described in 1919 as "most substantially constructed ... a mute object lesson to present-day contractors of shoddy and ginger breaded public work". After the county seat was moved to Fresno, the cornerstone for a new courthouse there was laid on October 8, 1874, and the building was accepted on August 19, 1875. It was subsequently enlarged in 1893, adding a large copper dome and two new wings. In 1895, after a fire that destroyed the copper dome and gutted the central building, the courthouse was rebuilt. However, a structural survey in 1961 concluded the 1875 courthouse had significant structural defects, and it was torn down in 1966 after a new courthouse was built. The 1966 courthouse was designed by Wagner & Associates. Fresno County consolidated municipal and county courts into the Superior Court of Fresno County on July 1, 1998. It was rededicated on October 4, 2010, for the Fresno Superior Court, which uses the site for civil and family proceedings. The "M" Street Civil Courthouse is housed in a former banquet hall; operations at "M" Street began in March 2008. The Juvenile Delinquency Court was opened in July 2009. ==Venues==