DUANE
Duane's take
The marker's the authority here, and I'm just the one putting wind behind it — so here's what it has to say. Out on the flat, wide-open stretch of the Texas Panhandle, where the sky goes on longer than a tall tale and the wind never once considers hush, there stands a piece of history that didn't come cheap and wasn't built for the faint of heart. We're talking about the Old Wheeler County Jail, built in 1886 — the first jail in the entire Panhandle of Texas.
Let that settle for a moment. The whole Panhandle. Before this place went up, the badmen of that country must have been feeling fairly comfortable about their situation.
Now, when Wheeler County decided it was time to get serious, they got serious in stone. The jail came in at a cost of eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars — and that stone didn't come from far away. It was quarried right there on the farm of Emanuel Dubbs, who happened to be the first county judge.
The man whose land provided the building material was also the first to hold the gavel in that county. Make of that what you will. But here's the detail that'll straighten your spine a little.
Folded into that eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars was twelve hundred specifically set aside for a hangman's device. Not a suggestion. A state requirement.
Wheeler County wasn't building a waystation — they were building a central holding place for badmen, and the state of Texas wanted everybody to know the full weight of what that meant. Twelve hundred dollars. Built right in.
The first jail in the Panhandle of Texas, and it came complete.
What the marker says
First jail in Panhandle of Texas. Central holding place for badmen. Built at cost of $18,500, including $1200 for a hangman's device put in to meet state requirement. Stone quarried on farm of Emanuel Dubbs, first county judge. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965