McCulloch County Jail

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Now, every county in Texas has got its stories, and McCulloch County is no exception, but some of the best ones get locked inside a building before they ever get out. This one starts with red brick and iron and a company down in San Antonio with a name that meant business: the Southern Structural Steel Co.

They came up to Brady and they built something meant to hold. Constructed in 1909 and 1910, this was the second building to ever serve as the McCulloch County Jail. Second.

Which means there was a first, and whatever that first one was, the county decided it was time to do better. What they got was a Romanesque Revival style edifice: red brick, thick walls, the kind of architecture that says we are not messin' around. Three floors.

The second and third floors held the prisoners' cells, stacked up nice and secure. But here's the detail that'll stick with you: that first floor wasn't just support structure. It was the jailer's quarters.

Somebody had to live there. And the first man to call that first floor home was Sheriff T.L. Sansom.

First occupant. Think about that; the man responsible for everyone locked upstairs sleeping right there beneath them. That is either dedication or something else entirely, and the marker doesn't say which.

The jail did its job for decade after decade, holding fast the way red brick and Southern Structural Steel intended. Then in 1974, the county erected a new facility, and just like that, this old Romanesque Revival sentinel was retired from duty. But here's where the story takes a turn worth noting: the Heart of Texas Historical Museum, Inc., acquired the structure.

They saw something worth keeping in those walls. And so what was built to confine ended up preserved. The second McCulloch County Jail (raised in 1909 and 1910, home to Sheriff T.L.

Sansom on the ground floor and to history on every floor above) is still standing. Some buildings just refuse to let go.

What the marker says

Constructed in 1909-1910, this was the second building to serve as the McCulloch County Jail. This red brick Romanesque Revival style edifice was built by the Southern Structural Steel Co. of San Antonio. Sheriff T.L. Sansom was the first occupant of the first floor jailer's quarters. The second and third floors contained prisoners' cells. When the county erected a new facility in 1974, the Heart of Texas Historical Museum, Inc., acquired this structure. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1976