Deport
This calaboose is in Deport, Texas and owned by the city. Originally, it was located in another part of town but the Deport Community Service Club hired a house mover in the 1980s to move it to its current location. Today, it rests in the 100 block of Monroe Street, directly above the intersection of Main and Monroe streets. During the move, some restoration was done to the roof, exterior siding was replaced in some areas, and the jail was placed on a cement slab. In its original location, it sat on logs. This is a wooden jail that was constructed using 2 x 4 inch boards laid flat on top of each other to form a strong four-inch wide wall. These boards were covered with ship lap siding. The jail is equidistant on all sides (10 x 10 feet), and this has resulted in a pyramidal or square hip roof covering an area of 100 square feet. These roofs slope downward to the walls on all sides, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Buildings with this roof type have no gables or other vertical sides. There is a small window with bars in the door. Additional small windows are present on the sides, but there is no window on the back wall. The roof is metal, and the floor in the jail before it was moved was dirt. A feature unique to this jail is the presence of a metal pipe in the wall that was used as a urinal. At the time the jail was in use, the pipe was tilted upward and passed through the wall to the outside for drainage. New siding was placed on the outside and covered the drain hole. The pipe is in the original hole on the inside. The date of construction for this jail is not known. According to Thomas Nichols (owner of the Deport Times), the town of Deport was incorporated in 1937, and he believes the jail was built at that time. There were no Sanborn maps at the agencies visited for Deport, 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 41LR321.