Old San Jacinto County Jail

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old San Jacinto County Jail in Coldspring. Now, most buildings don't last. Towns change, structures come down, time does what time does.

But every now and then, one building just refuses to go. The commissioners court approved this jail back in 1886, and by 1887 it was standing and ready for business. And friend, it stayed in business for a long time.

We're talking about a structure that served as the San Jacinto County Jail clear up until 1980. Nearly a century of lock-up, paperwork, and who knows what else going on behind those arched windows. Speaking of those windows, this is not your plain, no-frills county lockup.

Whoever built this thing had some aesthetic ambition. The decorative brickwork, the arched windows, the Victorian detailing, all of it says that even in the 1880s, Coldspring wanted its county jail to have a little dignity about it. The building was two stories in function if not in spirit.

Second floor up top held the cells. Ground floor down below held the jailer's living quarters. So the man responsible for keeping everybody in was also the man who never really got to leave.

That is a particular kind of dedication. Now here is where the story turns a little lonesome. Everything else from the original townsite of Coldspring is gone.

Every last structure. This jail is the only one remaining. The whole original town, and this one stubborn building is all that's left to tell the story of what Coldspring looked like in the 1880s.

It stood through everything, and it's still standing. Some things, it turns out, just won't be locked away from history.

What the marker says

Approved by the commissioners court in 1886 and completed the following year, this structure served as the San Jacinto County Jail until 1980. Interior space included second floor cells and jailer's living quarters on the ground floor. Victorian detailing is reflected in the decorative brickwork and arched windows. The only remaining structure of the original townsite, it now serves as a historic reminder of Coldspring in the 1880s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982