Hemphill County Jail - Canadian, TX
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 35° 54.743 W 100° 23.005
14S E 375174 N 3975114
Former Jail, now county offices.
Waymark Code: WMJ93A
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2013
Views: 4
Marker Erected by: State Historical Survey Committee
Date Marker Erected: Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970
County of Marker: Hemphill County.
Location of Marker: On the old Jail wall, 4th St. & Percell St., courthouse lawn, Canadian
Now I know the Texas Historical Society Atlas listing shows it as located at 5th & Main. That is the front SW corner of the courthouse itself, there is a huge veterans memorial being built there. This jail house is behind the court house. Go around back on Percell St. and you will see it.
THC Marker Text: Built in 1890, first permanent public building in both town of Canadian and Hemphill County. Erected under administration of E. E. Polly, first county judge.
Ironically, deception plagued construction of this jail, as building contracts were found to be fraudulent and citizens took legal action all the way to the Texas Supreme Court (1889).
In mid-1920s, jail held outlaws from notorious oil boom town of Borger (65 miles southwest).