Old Ellis County Jail

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old Ellis County Jail in Ellis County. Now settle in, because this one's got a few surprises built right into the brickwork. By 1888, Ellis County had a problem: the existing jail was full up, bursting at the seams, and the Commissioners Court decided it was time to do something about it.

They awarded the contract to the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company out of St. Louis, Missouri, and when that new facility was completed, it was something to see. A round turret with a conical roof rising up over the roofline, decorative brick corbeling running just below the cornice; this was not some rough-hewn holding pen thrown together in a hurry.

This was a statement. Two stories of brick and stone, and here's the part that always raises an eyebrow: the Sheriff's family residence was right there on the first floor. The family living downstairs, and twenty cells upstairs, each one four feet by eight feet, accommodating two prisoners apiece.

Cozy isn't quite the word I'd reach for. But the real ingenuity (and the real chill) was waiting below ground. Down in the basement, they kept the solitary confinement cells and the death cells.

And the builders had installed something that was, at the time, one of the few of its kind in the entire United States: a rotary system. Picture a cylinder containing a group of ten cells. The outer walls were stationary jail bars with only a single opening; one door, one way in or out.

When the cylinder turned, it aligned a cell with that one door. There was no slipping past a guard, no rushing a gate, no finding a second exit, because there wasn't one. The whole thing was designed around the idea that escape wasn't just difficult; it was nearly impossible.

And just in case anyone had doubts, the entire jail yard was enclosed by a fence of iron bars, and in the early days, bloodhounds were kept out there in the yard. So you had the rotary system above you, iron bars around you, and bloodhounds waiting outside. That's a lot of layers standing between a prisoner and the open Texas sky.

The jail ran that way until 1929, when a new county jail was constructed and this old fortress was handed off to other purposes. During the Depression, it housed the relief work commission. After that, a variety of commercial enterprises moved through the space over the years.

But those thick brick walls, that conical turret, and somewhere in the basement, those cells; they're still there, holding the memory of a time when Ellis County put its faith in rotating cylinders and the keen nose of a bloodhound.

What the marker says

Due to overcrowding in the existing jail facility, this structure was completed in 1888. The Ellis County Commissioners Court awarded the contract to Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, Missouri. A round turret with conical roof dominates the design. Decorative brick corbeling runs below the cornice. The two-story brick and stone jail contained the Sheriff's family residence on the first floor. There were twenty 4' X 8' cells which accommodated two prisoners each. The solitary confinement and death cells were in the basement. A rotary system, one of the few in the United States, was installed to prevent escapes. A cylinder contained a group of ten cells. The outer walls were stationary jail bars with only one opening. The cylinder turned to provide access to the single door. The entire jail yard was enclosed by a fence of iron bars. Bloodhounds were kept in the yard in the early days. After a new county jail was constructed in 1929, this facility housed the relief work commission during the depression. Afterward a variety of commercial enterprises occupied the space.