1890 Clay County Jail

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, Clay County, Texas has had itself more than one jail, and that right there should tell you something about the kind of place this corner of the state has always been. This particular building, the one standing before you, is the third jail Clay County ever built.

The third. You have to wonder what became of the first two, but the marker doesn't say, and I won't speculate. What I will tell you is that when the county decided it was time for a proper lockup, they didn't just call on anybody.

They called on the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company, all the way out of St. Louis, Missouri. And in 1890, those folks delivered.

Two stories of brick, sitting on a stone foundation, with stone sills to match. The details on this building are something to behold even now. Corbelled brick.

Rusticated stone. Pressed metal. Whoever drew up those plans was not thinking plain or practical.

They were thinking lasting. Now here's a detail that tends to catch people off guard. Right there alongside the jail, they built living quarters.

For the law officers. And their families. So while some poor soul was sitting in a cell contemplating his choices, the sheriff's children might've been playing just on the other side of the wall.

That was the arrangement, and apparently nobody found it remarkable enough to remark on, because that's simply how it was done. The years rolled by. In 1929, somebody decided the whole structure needed a coat of stucco, and on it went, covering all that fine brickwork underneath.

The building kept doing its job, year after year, holding whoever Clay County needed held. Then in 1973, official use of the building was discontinued. Just like that.

The doors closed on its working life. But the building remained, brick and stone and pressed metal, the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company's 1890 contribution to Clay County still standing right where they put it. Some things are just built to outlast their purpose.

What the marker says

Constructed in 1890 by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, Missouri, this is Clay County's third jail building. Construction of the jail included adjacent living quarters for law officers and their families. Stuccoed in 1929, the two story brick structure, with stone foundation and sills, boasts details of corbelled brick, rusticated stone, and pressed metal. Official use of the building was discontinued in 1973. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986