Mason County Jail

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Mason County Jail. Now, Mason County has gone through a few jails in its time, and by 1894 the county was ready for its third. They went right to the land for the material, pulling that brown sandstone out of the nearby hills and stacking it into something that meant business.

This wasn't just a box to hold troublemakers. The builders gave it a massive entry arch, segmental arches over the windows, and a central tower. That's a modified Romanesque Revival building, friends, which is a fancy way of saying they built a small-town Texas jail like it had something to prove.

And here's the detail that always gets me: the ground floor was laid out as living quarters for the sheriff. The man responsible for filling those cells upstairs was living right underneath them. The jail cells themselves sit on the second floor, which means the sheriff woke up every morning with his guests directly above his head.

Whether that was a comfort or a reminder, the marker doesn't say. What it does say is that this structure stands today as a good example of a small, nineteenth-century jail, brown sandstone and all, still holding its ground in Mason County just the way those nearby hills intended.

What the marker says

A good example of a small, nineteenth-century jail, this structure was built in 1894 from the brown sandstone available in the nearby hills. The ground floor of the county's third jail includes living quarters for the sheriff, while the jail cells are located on the second floor. The modified Romanesque Revival building features a massive entry arch, segmental arches over the windows, and a central tower. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983