DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and this one's got more twists than a cattle trail in a thunderstorm. We're talkin' about the Hemphill County Jail up in Canadian, Texas. Built in 1890, it holds the distinction of being the first permanent public building in both the town of Canadian and Hemphill County.
First one. The whole county, and the whole town, finally had something solid to point to. That's no small thing out on the Texas Panhandle plains.
The jail went up under the administration of E. E. Polly, the first county judge — a man who, one imagines, had his hands plenty full just tryin' to bring order to a young and restless county.
Now here's where the story gets a little thorny. Before the first brick was even laid proper, something was already rotten in the paperwork. The building contracts for this jail — the very first permanent public structure in the county, mind you — were found to be fraudulent.
Fraudulent. Citizens didn't just grumble about it over coffee, either. They took legal action all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.
In 1889. So the people of Hemphill County were fighting in the state's highest court over a building that wouldn't be finished until 1890. That irony is baked right into the walls of the place.
And the walls held. The jail stood. Then came the mid-1920s, and Canadian found itself receivin' some very unwelcome guests — outlaws rolling in from Borger, that notorious oil boom town sitting sixty-five miles to the southwest.
Borger had a reputation that preceded it by a country mile, and when its outlaws needed somewhere to cool their heels, the Hemphill County Jail was waitin' on them. Built on fraud, tested in the Supreme Court, and still standin' firm enough to hold the worst the boom times could send its way. That's one stubborn jail.
What the marker says
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). Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970