Seen here is the door to the former courthouse vault. Counties, like banks, maintained vaults for storage of important documents and cash. The County Treasurer would maintain physical cash on hand within the vault, while the County Clerk would use the vault to store vital statistics, Commissioners’ Court records, property ownership and Census record data, and more. Anybody born or married in Ellis County prior to the 1998 courthouse restoration at one time had his or her birth or marriage certificate stored within this vault. If this pertains to you, please accept our disclaimer that the use of your former vital statistics storage area as a restroom does not, in any way, reflect our opinion of your age or your marriage.