Calaboose and Rock with Irons - Comanche, TX
N 31° 53.855 W 098° 36.283
14R E 537378 N 3529151
At the SW corner of the Comanche County Courthouse square at 101 W. Central Ave., Comanche, TX is a marker explaining the purpose and history of a large stone with chains and handicaps embedded in it.
Waymark Code: WM12Q3E
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 06/30/2020
Views: 4
A large block of limestone, roughly 4 ft x 4 ft, is found at the foot of the historic Fleming Oak tree growing at the southwest corner of the Comanche County Courthouse square in Comanche, TX. This is the corner where W Central Ave, and N Houston Street intersect. Attached in the the center of this stone block is a pair of old chains with shackles at the loose ends. The history of this stone with shackles is rooted in the formation of the city of Comanche, TX.
In 1856, Comanche County was formed and the first county courthouse and, later, the first county jail were established. Settlers were still discovering Texas and were moving westward into what then was Comanche Indian tribe's territory. Life was hard and the people were tough. Some of the ranch hands or cowboys would get out of line while in town and the sheriff would lock them up. This block with chains used to be inside the Comanche jail. When the jail was rebuilt, this block was acquired by a local rancher who years later returned it to the County as a historical piece of an Old West form of punishment.
This Sign of History is at the end of a line of Texas historical markers that are between the Fleming Oak tree and the Old Cora Courthouse. The marker about the stone and cuffs reads as follows:
"Calaboose And Rock With Irons
Commissioners Court minutes of 3-17-1872 ordered Jo G Hardin, County Treasurer to solicit donations "to build a jail on Lot 12, Block 7, Orig. Add. Comanche jail house shall be 14' x 20' a partition dividing it into rooms." The building, called "the calaboose" was 350' SW from here and used to house drunks overnight. In 1892 Bill McGee was hired to rock the plank bldg. and left a rock to be easily removed. He was the first drunk incarcerated, removed his loose rock and beat Constable, Jeff Greene, back to the square. The large rock with iron cuffs and chains inside the calaboose was to better secure prisoners committing a felony. In 1968 Higginbotham Bros. & Co., then owner, had the building removed. A.P. Burks took large rock to his place in Comanche. Later his wife Margaret Burks gave large rock with chain cuffs to County of Comanche to be placed under the old Fleming Oak tree. Researched and written by Dorothy F. Robertson."
Link to waymark WMJM96 "Limestone boulder with shackles and chain - Comanche TX":
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