Old Atascosa County Jail

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old Atascosa County Jail. Now settle in, because this building has a story with more layers than it has floors, and that's saying something. In 1910, the county seat of Atascosa County was moved from Pleasanton to Jourdanton.

And the very next year, 1911, county officials did what you do when you need a jail and don't quite have one yet. They rented a house. A small house in Jourdanton.

That was the jail. Now, somebody looked at that situation and said, we can do better. The proposal on the table was to build something new using cells salvaged from the old Pleasanton structure.

Recycled jail cells. The county said no. Rejected.

What got authorized instead, in 1915, was a reinforced-concrete, brick-clad building with brand new steel cells. The site itself was purchased that same year from a man named W.M. Abernethy, born 1851, died 1931, who had served as County Judge from 1901 to 1912.

So the man who sold them the land was no stranger to Atascosa County business. To supervise the erection of the jail, they turned to Henry T. Phelps of San Antonio, born 1881, died 1945, the same architect who had designed the 1912 Courthouse.

The Southern Structural Steel Company, also out of San Antonio, was awarded the construction contract. Twenty thousand dollars. Now here is where the building stops being merely practical and starts being something to look at.

Whoever signed off on the design had opinions. The finished structure featured an eclectic blend of architectural elements, crenelated towers rising at the corners, and hood molds outlining every window. This was a jail, yes.

But it was a jail with a certain self-regard. The first floor housed offices and living quarters for the sheriffs and their families. That arrangement ran from 1916 all the way to 1959.

Families living inside the county jail. Think about what those children grew up hearing at night. Up on the second floor, they built a gallows room.

Trap door and all. And here is the part the marker makes a point to tell you: that trap door was never sprung for execution. Never once.

The gallows room stood ready for decades and never did the work it was built to do. The second and third floors held both standard and specialized cells. In 1974, additions were built onto the structure, with bricks and detailing carefully matched to the original patterns.

Somebody cared enough to get it right. In 1982, a new jail was built to replace this one. A building that had housed a rented house's worth of ambition in 1911, grown into crenelated towers and a gallows that never fired, stood until the county finally moved on.

That trap door never sprung. Some rooms are built for a purpose they never meet. And somehow, in this case, that feels like the right ending.

What the marker says

County officials rented a small Jourdanton house for a jail in 1911 after the county seat was moved here from Pleasanton in 1910. A proposal to build a new jail with cells from the old Pleasanton structure was rejected and this reinforced-concrete, brick-clad building with new steel cells was authorized in 1915. This site was purchased that year from W.M. Abernethy (1851-1931), who had served as County Judge from 1901 to 1912. The architect of the 1912 Courthouse, Henry T. Phelps (1881-1945) of San Antonio, was chosen to supervise erection of the jail. The Southern Structural Steel Company of San Antonio was awarded the $20,000 construction contract. An electic blend of architectural elements was highlighted with crenelated towers and hood molds outlining the windows. The first floor housed offices and living quarters for Sheriffs and their families, provided from 1916 to 1959. A gallows room was built on the second floor, though its trap door was never sprung for execution. Standard and specialized cells were partitioned on the second and third floors. Additions were built in 1974, with bricks and detailing carefully matching original patterns. A new jail was built to replace this building in 1982. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.