Historical Marker
San Jacinto County Jail
Coldspring, San Jacinto County · Texas
Erected 1971
The jail is all that remains of the old townsite. The Handbook of Texas says it alone marks the original Coldspring, which moved uphill after the 1915 courthouse fire, and that it joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and became a registered Texas landmark in 1982. Wikipedia adds that the county's first jail, built in 1870, was wooden, that a records vault modeled on the jail's architecture went up behind the courthouse in 1895, and that the building now houses the San Jacinto County Historical Commission.
What the plaque says
San Jacinto County Jail Noted for rare but never used hangman's trap. Second jail for San Jacinto County which was organized 1871, this structure was built in 1887 by L. T. Noyes of Houston. Later, the Southern Structural Steel Company of San Antonio installed cells and the unusual execution device. That firm also built annex in 1911. In 1915 San Jacinto County's frame courthouse burned. When a new brick courthouse was built a quarter-mile to the southwest, axis of the town shifted from area of the jail, which still serves its official role. (1971)
Where it stands
30.59622, -95.12846 · Directions
More markers nearby
- General James Davis — steps away
- Laurel Hill Cemetery — steps away
- Governor George Tyler Wood — 0.3 mi
- Townsite of Coldspring — 0.3 mi