Vanderpool

This tiny structure is one of the smallest yet encountered.  At 8 feet and 8 inches on each side it is only about 78 square feet and the inside is smaller because of the thick walls.  No windows are present.  The only ventilation would have been through a door with bars but since the original doors is covered with tin the amount of light and ventilation that the unfortunate prisoners would have enjoyed is not known.  It is made of poured concrete in about eight pouring episodes of rows of concrete 10.5 inches thick.    It is only 7 feet tall and the door is 6 feet 4 inches tall and 30.5 inches wide.  It is located on the west side of FM 187 directly across from the Vanderpool post office.  It is privately owned but the postmaster said that the last owner is deceased and he does not know the whereabouts of the current owner.  It probably conforms to Floor Plan 1a (Floor Plans).  It has been recorded at TARL as historic site 41BN271.

The area that is now Vanderpool was given as a headright certificate by the Republic of Texas to José Texaso and patented by John W. Smith, assignee of José Texaso, on August 18, 1849. Smith sold his patent to Victor P. Considerant, who in turn sold several tracts to Henry Taylor and Gideon Thompson. Eventually Taylor owned several thousand acres in the Vanderpool area, where he gave away and sold land for a school, churches, and a cemetery.   A post office was established in 1886, closed in 1889, and then reopened in 1902. The town was named for the first postmaster, L. B. Vanderpool, but the site had previously been called Bugscuffle. A school, known as Bugscuffle School, was established and in 1887–1888.  In 1990 Vanderpool had one business and a population of twenty-two. The population was twenty in 2000.

Side View

Front View