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Texas
| Buildings
TEXAS JAILS
Texas County Jails "The
Big House" may be in Huntsville,
but "The Small House" is everywhere. |
Jails were
some of the first public buildings erected in Texas - occasionally built with
the same bond issue money as county courthouses. After construction however, they
received minimal funds for modernization . Stories have been told of sympathetic
sheriffs who would release prisoners because of leaking roofs.
Texas'
landscape is dotted with these brick fortresses and grim crenelated castles -
many of them still in use after more than 100 years. Medieval and primitive they
may appear, but many housed the sheriff and his family as well as local miscreants
and villains.
Here
are some of Texas' more picturesque 19th and 20th century county jails.
|
| | Features
Frontier
Jails by Bob Bowman
People
just naturally have an affinity for their jails, so in places like Hemphill, Coldspring,
Carthage, Center, Fairfield, Jasper and Lufkin, they've raised money through bake
sales and county fairs to bring their own jails back to life as museums and historical
archives.
'Tumbleweeds'
took outlaws to prison by Delbert Trew 5-31-11
Among
the more famous conveyances adapted and used by man were the "tumbleweed wagons."
Actually, they were only common canvas covered farm wagons put to use hauling
captured prisoners being taken to the Fort Smith prison. |
| Prison
House 8-20-12
"In
the late 1800's and 1900's my house served as a prison house..." |
Albany,
former Shackelford County Jail
FeatureAlice
- Jim Wells County Jail Alpine,
former Brewster County JailAndrews
- former Andrews County JailArcher
City, former Archer County JailAthens,
former Henderson County JailBaird,
Callahan County, old and new jailsBallinger,
former Runnels County jailBandera,
Bandera County former jailBastrop
- Bastrop County Old Jail Baytown,
Chambers/Harris Counties, former Goose Creek Jail Bellville,
Austin County, former Bellville jailBelton
- Former Bell County JailBenjamin,
Knox County, former jail Best
Jail - Reagan County
Feature 3-20-12Blanco
- 1877 Old Blanco County Jail
8-2-11 Boerne,
Kendall County JailBrackettville,
Kinney County JailBrady,
McCulloch County Jail FeatureBrownfield
- Terry County's First Jail FeatureBrownsville
- Cameron County JailsBrownwood
- Brown County Jail MuseumBurnet
- Former Burnet County Jail FeatureCameron,
Milam County Jailhouse and the Jailhouse Ghost Canadian,
Hemphill County old jailCarbon
Old JailCarthage,
Former Panola County jailCenter,
Shelby County, former jailChillicothe,
Former City JailClairemont,
Kent County old jail Clairemont
JailClarksville,
Red River County JailClaude,
Armstrong County JailColdspring,
Old San Jacinto County Jail
Coleman,
Coleman County Jail Feature
4-29-12Columbus
- Colorado County Jail
9-8-12Comanche,
Comanche County jail Corpus
Christi, Nueces County old jailCorsicana
City JailDallas
County Jail FeatureDecatur,
Wise County Jail - Old Stone Prison FeatureDel
Rio, Val Verde County Jail FeatureDell
City, Hudspeth county Desdemona,
Eastland County old jailDickens,
Dickens County Jail Eagle
Pass, Maverick County JailEast
Bernard - Old Holding Cell Eastland
- former Eastland County Jail
Edna - Jackson County JailEldorado
- former Schleicher County JailFairfield
- Freestone County former jailFarwell
- Parmer County JailFloydada
- Floyd County JailFort
Davis - Jeff Davis County Jail Fort
GriffinFort
Stockton, Pecos County, Pecos County JailFranklin
- Robertson County JailFredericksburg,
Gillespie County jailFrio
Town - The 1872 Frio County Old Jail
Rare photosGail,
Former Borden County JailGainesville
- Cooke County JailGarden
City, former Glasscock County jail Georgetown,
Williamson County old jailGlen
Rose - Somervell County JailGoldsmith,
former city jailGoldthwaite
- Mills County jail
Gonzales
- Gonzales County jail FeatureGraham
- Young County Jail Feature
Granbury,
Hood County old jailGroveton,
Trinity County jailGuthrie
- King County jailHamilton,
Hamilton County jail FeatureHartley
- First Hartley County Jail Hebbronville
- Jim Hogg County Jail Helena
- Strap Iron Jail
6-22-12Hemphill
- Former Sabine County Jail Feature
Henderson,
Rusk County jailHenrietta,
former Clay county jailHidalgo
County Jail, Edinburg TexasHidalgo
- Former Hidalgo County JailHillsboro,
Former Hill County jail FeatureHollidayHondo,
Medina County JailJohnson
City, Blanco County Jail Feature
Jourdanton
- Atascosa County JailJunction
- Kimble County JailKemp
- Once held Bonnie ParkerKirbyville
- Former JailKyle
City Jail - old jail and signLa
Grange - Former Fayetter County Jail
Feature
Centerville
- Leon County JailLlano,
Llano County jailLockhart
- Former Caldwell County JailFeature
Lubbock,
Lubbock County JailMarathon,
former Brewster County jail Marfa,
Presidio County, jail and water towerMason,
Mason County jailMatador
- Motley County JailMcKinney,
Collin County PrisonMenard
- Menard County Jail FeatureMobeetie,
Wheeler County JailMontague,
Montague County JailMontgomery
- Old Montgomery County Iron Cage Jail
Mount
Vernon, Franklin County jailNavasota,
Grime County, former jailNew
Boston, Bowie County old jailOakville
- Former Live Oak County JailPaducah
- Former Cottle County JailPalestine,
Anderson County JailPalo
Pinto County JailPearsall,
Frio County Jail
Feature Port
Lavaca, Former Calhoun County jail, razedQuanah,
former Hardeman County jailRichmond,
former Fort Bend County jail 2-2-13Robert
Lee - Former Coke County jail Feature
Roby,
Fisher County JailRockport
- Aransas County Jail Rocksprings
- Edwards County JailRusk
Prison House
8-20-12San
Augustine County JailSan
Elizario - Former El Paso County Jail San
Jacinto County Jail San
Marcos - Former Hays County JailsSan
Saba County Jail Schleicher
County JailSeymour
- Former Baylor County JailSilverton
- Former Briscoe County Jail Skellytown
jailSnyder,
Scurry County Jail of 1912 FeatureSomerville
City Jail Sonora,
Sutton County JailSour
Lake Iron Cage JailSpofford
- Strap-iron JailStanton
jail, Martin CountySterling
City - Sterling County JailStockdale
City JailSweetwater,
Nolan County old jailThrockmorton,
former Throckmorton County jailTilden,
McMullen County Jail
Van Horn - Former Culberson County JailVernon
Texas - Former Wilbarger County JailWaller
County JailWaxahachie,
Ellis County old jail FeatureWheeler,
Wheeler County old jailWichita
Falls - 1890 Wichita County JailWoodville
- Tyler County jail
HOTELS
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Texas Jail Related
Articless Bullet
Riddled Buddies by Clay Coppedge
2-1-13
The escape
from the infamous “Death House” at Huntsville...
'Tumbleweeds'
took outlaws to prison by Delbert Trew 5-31-11
Among
the more famous conveyances adapted and used by man were the "tumbleweed wagons."
Actually, they were only common canvas covered farm wagons put to use hauling
captured prisoners being taken to the Fort Smith prison... The
Haunting of the Old Travis County Jail by Mike Cox
Harvey, 34, had the
distinction of being the last of nine men legally hanged in the castle-like stone
jail, built for $100,000 in 1876 at the corner of 11th and Brazos streets — present
location of the Dewitt C. Greer Building, headquarters of what is now the Texas
Department of Transportation. The
Huntsville Humdinger and the Texas Prison Rodeo by Mike Cox
When the Huntsville
Humdinger hit the streets that Monday, the feisty four-column competitor of the
long-established Huntsville Item carried on page one a humdinger of a local scoop:
The prison system would be starting a rodeo that fall. On Sept. 4, 1931...Bertillion
Method early way to track criminals by Delbert Trew
I take great
pleasure in learning a new word, a little-known fact or hearing a story I have
not heard before. In the book "Texas Gulag" by Gary Brown, the history of Texas
prisons, jails and even the early-day chain gangs is presented from the years
1875 to 1925. The book outlined in detail how criminals were identified as they
processed through the old systems.Old-time
improvisation in branding and jailing by Delbert TrewPearl
by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" column)
He has the singular distinction
of being the first and last man legally hanged in the county.The
Double Hanging at Bellville in 1896 by Norman ConquestSheriff
Fenton of Coleman County and His Larger Than Life Wife by John Troesser
The
Infamous East Texas Sewing Needle Jail Break by John Troesser |
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