Carbon

This calaboose is located on state property in a vacant lot 104 meters north of the post office located at 100 North Main in Carbon, Texas.  According to the Appraisal District for Eastland County, the jail is in Lot 1 of Block 36 of the original town.  There is an unnamed dirt road between the lot where the jail sits and the post office.  On some maps, this road is labeled as Collins Boulevard, but the Postmaster for Carbon claims that this is incorrect.  The first jail in Carbon was constructed in 1905 and made of wood (The Herald [published in Carbon], Vol. 5, No. 1, Ed. 1, dated August 18, 1905).   It was located northeast of the depot near the railroad track.  The Herald (Vol. 5, No. 35, Ed. 1 dated April 20, 1906) states that the cost of Disbursements for “Calaboose and Lot” were $82.00.  According to The Herald, Vol. 5, No. 1, Ed. 1 dated August 18, 1905).  The City Marshall at the time was J. A. McDaniel.  In 1907, the City Marshall was J. P. Butts.  He posted a Notice in The Herald dated June 7, 1907 that reads as follows:

Notice

There are some parties, or party, dumping rubbish on the Calaboose lot.  This is not right and I hereby ask you to stop same.

J. P. Butts’ City Marshall.

The wooden calaboose was destroyed during a jailbreak when the brothers of a prisoner tied a rope to the building and pulled a wall down. T

The current jail was built of reinforced concrete using the “poured in place” method, and it took at least eleven episodes to create the walls.  All documentation regarding the construction of this jail was destroyed by a fire in 1925.  Scott White has compiled a history of Carbon through personal interviews and newspaper articles.  He states that the current jail was built in 1921 and had no restroom, lights, or heater.   Don L. May moved to Carbon as a boy with his family in 1936 and they stayed there until 1942.  He lived about three blocks from the jail and never saw the jail used to house prisoners.  During that time, prisoners were taken to the county jail in Eastland.  The old door was always open, and May and his friends often played inside and around the old jail.  He remembers evidence of fires that he believes were used by hobos and transients who used it for shelter. During the war years, the jail was used as a place to store papers and other items collected for the war effort.  Mr. May believes the jail was constructed during the oil boom in Eastland County that occurred around 1919.  He said that there was an influx of some pretty rough people looking for work, and a jail was needed.  There are no documents that confirm either date.

This calaboose measures 2.76 meters across the front and 3.35 meters on each side (79.3 square feet).  The distance from the ground to the top of the walls is 2.2 meters.  The slab that comprises the roof is 9 centimeters thick.  The original door is missing.  The current door is a reproduction that was created based on what the original door may have looked like.  On the rear wall is a heavy metal ring that could have been used to shackle prisoners.

There are no windows, and the only source of light and ventilation is a row of three metal pipes on each side.

A most unusual feature of this structure is the presence of a cast iron, non-structural pediment above the door.  This type of pediment is described by architects as “broken” or “open” because the two decorative elements on each side do not connect.  Instead, there is a space in the middle that contains a relief sculpture of the head of a lion on a vase that is typical of classical, neoclassical, and baroque architecture.

The Sanborn Company did not create a fire insurance map of Carbon.  In 2013, this calaboose was designated as a State Historic Landmark and marker number 17695 was awarded.  A medallion and 12” x 16” plaque with post was approved, but it has not been placed on the site at this time. There were no Sanborn maps at the agencies visited for Carbon, Texas at the time of this study. This structure conforms to Floor Plan 1a (see Floor Plans).  It has been recorded at TARL as historic site  41EA37.

Desdemona

Front View

This privately owned jail is in the city limits of Desdemona, Texas on the northeast corner of State Highway 8 and County Road 501. It was locked; therefore, I was not able to inspect the interior.  It was made from brick manufactured by the Green and Hunter Brick Company of Thurber, Texas.  Today, Desdemona is a virtual ghost town with only a few businesses still in operation.

Thurber Brick Logo

This enterprise began in the late 1890s when Colonel Robert Hunter and Mining Superintendent W. K. Gordon made the decision to use pea coal.  This coal passed through the screens and generated no income for the miners.  Colonel Hunter and James Green discovered that they could use it to fire the brick kilns they were developing.  At one time, eighteen kilns turned out 80,000 bricks a day and Thurber Brick Company had the reputation for being the best brick west of the Mississippi.  The plant ceased operations in 1931, and the only reminders of brick making are the brick features at the plant site and buildings and streets that were paved with Thurber brick.  Some of the streets in the county seat of Eastland County are paved with Thurber brick, and it was probably a logical decision to use the same brick to build the local jail.

The date of construction of this calaboose is not known.  Oil was discovered in the area in 1918 and the population of Desdemona grew to 16,000 between 1919 and 1922.  This period appears to be a likely time for construction of a jail due to the probable increase of crime due to an influx of workers in the oil fields.

This has been substantiated by the excellent website published by _______.  In August of 1919, a riot broke out and several local businesses were ransacked.  The cause of the riot is believed to be linked to a Jewish proprietor of a clothing store who refused to cash an oil field worker’s check or that the proprietor of the Busy Bee Cafe, a Greek, ejected an intoxicated man. As the riot progressed. The Sheriff of Eastland County was notified and he and his deputies rushed to the scene in only two hours. With the heavy traffic and the bad roads, the two hours it took for him to drive the twenty miles was considered a prompt response.  By the time the law arrived, what served as the jail had been overturned by the mob when they failed to locate their intoxicated buddy.

The jail was measured to be 3.7 meters across the front and 2.8 meters on each side (111.3 square feet).  The height from the ground to the top is 2.3 meters.  The door is 1.12 m wide and 2 m tall.  It is made from heavy gauge steel and the only view into the interior is through six vertical slits.   This door is unusual in that it is made in two pieces that open outward.  There is only one window  and it is only 46 cm x 46 cm in size.  The only ventilation available to prisoners was the narrow slits in the door and window or vent.

Rear View

Detail of only ventilation area other than the door

There were no Sanborn maps at the agencies visited for Desdemona, Texas at the time of this study.  This structure was locked at the time of my visit.  It most likely conforms to Floor Plan 1a or Floor Plan 1c (see Floor Plans).  It was recorded at TARL as historic site 41EA36.

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