Palo Pinto County Jail - Palo Pinto, TX
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member WalksfarTX
N 32° 45.961 W 098° 17.917
14S E 565693 N 3625564
The jail was vacated in 1941 when the jail was moved to the top floor of new courthouse. The Palo Pinto Historical Association restored the building in 1968 to house the museum.
Waymark Code: WM10F1X
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/26/2019
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member pmaupin
Views: 1

NRHP Nomination Form

"The jail is a two story masonry cube, thirty by forty feet in plan and twenty-eight in height. Quarters are provided for the jailer on the first floor while cells are located on the second floor. Built by the firm Martin, Byrnes and Johnston.

The walls are constructed of brown sandstone, thirty-two inches thick, which was quarried near Palo Pinto. Quarry-faced stones laid in regular ashlar pattern provide a texture to the facades of the building. The first floor door and window openings are spanned with cut-stone arches comprised of three voussoirs. The intrados of each arch follows a semi-circular curve while the extrados follows the curve of a pointed arch. Cut stom lintels with segmental arch curvatures span the second floor openings. Sills of cut stone are employed for all window openings and cut-stone imposts support the arches and lintels. The door openings incorporate a smaller semi-circular arch within the pointed arch. The composition is crowned with a fine cut-stone entablature. These details work together to provide a simple aesthetic distinction for the jail.

The interior of the ground floor was divided into living quarters. A kitchen, living room, and bedrooms accommodated the jailer and his family. Also located on this floor was a trustees' room which was separated from the kitchen for preparation of the prisoners food by a steel door.

Housed on the second floor, accessible by an interior iron stair from the trustees' room, were the free-standing iron cages which served as cells. These cages incorporated the latest developments in detention facility design. In 1907 officials installed a device for execution by hanging, which evidently was never used. The second story openings are secured by three sets of iron bars; Single sets of bars secure the first floor windows while double sets secure the doors."

Address:
Elm St. and 5th Ave
Palo Pinto, TX USA


Open to the public: No

Hours:
Thursday thru Saturday -10:00 am to 3:00 pm


Fees?:
None


Web link: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
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