Hill County Jail

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it on to you. Now, Hill County had itself a jail situation. Not one jail, not two, but by the time 1893 rolled around, they were putting up their third.

Third time's the charm, as they say, and this time they meant business. They brought in W. C.

Dodson of Waco to design it. Now, Dodson wasn't a stranger to Hill County. This was the same man who designed the Hill County Courthouse, so the county knew what they were getting.

For the actual construction, they hired the firm of Lovell and Wood, out of Brown County, and those two outfits together put up something that was more than just a place to hold troublemakers. The building went up in brick and limestone, and it didn't look like your plain county lockup. Victorian influences, medieval revival touches.

The kind of place that, when you walked up to it, you understood the county was making a statement. Now, inside, the arrangement was something particular. The front of the building held living quarters, for the sheriff and the jailer both, which meant the law was always home.

Always right there. And in the back section, that's where the steel-clad prisoner cells waited. Brick and limestone on the outside, steel on the inside.

Comfortable for some, considerably less so for others, depending entirely on which side of that arrangement you happened to find yourself on.

What the marker says

Constructed in 1893, this building serves as the third jail for Hill County. It was designed by W. C. Dodson of Waco, architect of the Hill County Courthouse, and built by the Brown County firm of Lovell and Wood. The brick and limestone structure reflects influences of the Victorian and medieval revival styles. Interior space includes living quarters in the front for the sheriff and jailer. Steel-clad prisoner cells are located in the back section. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981