DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at the Rusk Penitentiary Building tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in 1875, Governor Richard Coke appointed a commission to find the right spot for a state penitentiary — and what they were looking for, more than anything else, was iron ore. This region had it in abundance, and that settled the matter.
Two years later, in 1877, a 19,000-acre tract was purchased from T. Y. T.
Jamison and his wife. Then the builders arrived — Kanmacher and Denig, contractors out of Columbus, Ohio — and in the following year they put up something built to last. Two and a half feet of sandstone in those walls.
Two and a half feet. You don't build like that unless you mean it. Inside those thick walls they fit the whole operation: administrative offices, a hospital, a chapel, a dining area, and the cells themselves.
Now, a structure that size with a population that size was going to need something to do, and the men inside this place did plenty. The prisoners helped construct the Texas State Railroad — the line running from Rusk all the way to Palestine. And right there adjacent to this very building, they built the Old Alcalde, an iron ore smelting furnace.
That furnace didn't just supply local needs. It produced iron products for construction throughout the United States, and its output went into the erection of many state buildings. Convict labor was used in the area at contract prices — that was the arrangement of the era, and the marker doesn't soften it.
Then 1917 came around, and the Texas Legislature made a decision that would change everything about this place. The facility was converted to a state hospital for the mentally ill. They renovated the building, and by 1919 it was ready for occupancy under a new name: Rusk State Hospital.
The old penitentiary walls were still standing — still two and a half feet of sandstone thick — but what happened inside them had changed entirely. In 1963 the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation was designated as the governing body, and this structure settled into its role as the administrative center for the hospital. Same stones.
Whole different story living inside them.
What the marker says
The abundance of iron ore for use in manufacturing prompted a commission appointed by Gov. Richard Coke in 1875 to select this region for a state penitentiary. In 1877 this 19,000-acre tract was purchased form T. Y. T. Jamison and his wife. Contractors Kanmacher and Denig of Columbus, Ohio, built this structure the following year. The walls are of two-and-a-half foot thick sandstone. The administrative offices, a hospital, chapel, dining area, and cells were housed here. The prisoners helped construct the Texas State Railroad from Rusk to Palestine. They built the "Old Alcalde" iron ore smelting furnace adjacent to this structure. The furnace produced iron products for construction throughout the United States and for use in the erection of many state buildings. Convict labor was used in the area at contract prices. In 1917 the Texas Legislature changed the facility to a state hospital for the mentally ill. The building was renovated and ready for occupancy by 1919 and operated under the name of Rusk State Hospital. The Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation was designated as the governing body in 1963. This structure became the administrative center for the hospital. (1979)