The Old Jail
Happy Bench Monday!!!
HBM!!
I saw this old guy while driving around La Grange, Texas. It's the very first jail house build in the town. Now it's being used as the City of La Grange Visitor’s Bureau and office space for the La Grange Area Chamber of Commerce. In the mid-1930’s, two members of the infamous Bonne and Clyde gang, Raymond Hamilton and Gene O’ Dare were held here for robbing the Carmine Bank.
Here's more info:
Fayette County opened its first jail in July, 1838. The cost of the first structure was $460. It was a primitive structure; prisoners were ironed and chained but within 10 years the building was sold. With no jail, prisoners were parceled out to various citizens for safekeeping. The plan worked until a murderer’s apprehension made arrangements for his incarceration in another town necessary.
In 1852, plans were finalized for a new jail that was in use by 1854. This jail was built by German immigrant Heinrich Kreishe, who was a stone mason by trade when he immigrated. You can see his work still at the Monument Hill/ Kreishe Brewery State Park.
By the early 1880’s, the need for a more modern and larger jail was evident and work began on the structure we now call the Old Jail. In November 1881, the county commissioners selected the Victorian Gothic design of Andrewarthe & Wahrenberger as the new look. The building was opened in 1883.
The Old Jail
Happy Bench Monday!!!
HBM!!
I saw this old guy while driving around La Grange, Texas. It's the very first jail house build in the town. Now it's being used as the City of La Grange Visitor’s Bureau and office space for the La Grange Area Chamber of Commerce. In the mid-1930’s, two members of the infamous Bonne and Clyde gang, Raymond Hamilton and Gene O’ Dare were held here for robbing the Carmine Bank.
Here's more info:
Fayette County opened its first jail in July, 1838. The cost of the first structure was $460. It was a primitive structure; prisoners were ironed and chained but within 10 years the building was sold. With no jail, prisoners were parceled out to various citizens for safekeeping. The plan worked until a murderer’s apprehension made arrangements for his incarceration in another town necessary.
In 1852, plans were finalized for a new jail that was in use by 1854. This jail was built by German immigrant Heinrich Kreishe, who was a stone mason by trade when he immigrated. You can see his work still at the Monument Hill/ Kreishe Brewery State Park.
By the early 1880’s, the need for a more modern and larger jail was evident and work began on the structure we now call the Old Jail. In November 1881, the county commissioners selected the Victorian Gothic design of Andrewarthe & Wahrenberger as the new look. The building was opened in 1883.