Wortham
Wortham Calaboose
This calaboose is located in the city limits of Wortham, Texas and is owned by the city. In 1874 the settlement was renamed Wortham in honor of Colonel Rice Wortham, a merchant who had been instrumental in convincing the railroad to build through the area. It stands behind the current Wortham Police Department at 104 West Concho Street and faces east.
According to an article in The Mexia Daily News (Volume 103, Number 148) dated July 27, 2002 (author believed to be A. C. Black), this building has been referred to locally as “The Old Wortham Calaboose.” He states that it was used mainly to house drunks and minor lawbreakers. Prisoners were locked up by Roy (Crook) Calame (Constable) or John Edwards (City Marshall). They were not released until they paid their fine to Justice of the Peace Esaw Crouch. Serious criminals were also confined there until Sheriff Jim Sessons from the county seat in Fairfield was able to come and get them. The article is illustrated by a photograph of the calaboose that was taken during the early days of its use. The date of the photograph is not stated but it may have been around 1922.
This calaboose consists of two cells of equal size (8 feet by 8.7.5 feet) that are side-by-side. The doors are secured with metal bars and there is one small window for each cell that was placed on each side of the calaboose. It is 18 feet across the front and 10 feet on the sides (180 square feet). The distance from the ground to the top of the walls is 6 feet and 8 inches. The walls were measured at 7.5 inches in thickness. In the ceiling of each cell is an opening that leads to metal pipes protruding from the roof. The purpose of these pipes is not known but they may have served as vents for a small heater. There is a metal bed frame in the cell on the left and a rocking chair and wooden table in the cell on the right. Not one of these pieces of furniture is believed to be original to the jail.
According to an article in the Mexia Daily News (date and author unknown), it was constructed in 1915 and used until 1950. This article refers to this structure as a stone building that represents the “original city jail” that was built by contractors from Fairfield, Texas. However, the entire structure (including the floors) was made of concrete using the poured in place method. The various pouring episodes that formed the walls can be identified by the horizontal lines (visible on the interior) created by the placement of new wooden boards that create the form. It took eight episodes of pouring concrete to create the walls. The concrete was created using a composite of water and coarse granular material (in this case small pebbles) embedded in a hard matrix of material (cement or binder) that fills the spaces among the aggregate particles and glues them together. In addition, metal rebar was used for extra strength. Unfortunately, the mixture appears not to have been a proper proportion because serious deterioration is present in the southeast corner at the bottom of the wall and there are minor areas of deterioration elsewhere. The exterior of the calaboose has been covered with a coat of stucco. The use of stucco was sometimes used to cover surfaces that are starting to crack and deteriorate or as a cosmetic treatment (see Chillicothe). This treatment was common from around 1910 through the 1930s.
Metal rebar exposed by weathering
The roof is also concrete and was created by pouring cement and aggregate into a wooden form at the top. When the boards were removed, the impression of the grains of wood is present in some areas of the ceiling and that creates the illusion of a ceiling of wood. There is also an unusual roof treatment. The walls on the front and sides extend above the roof. The reason for this is not known but it may have been as a method of decoration. This same structural expression was observed at the calaboose in Chillicothe. It is possible that all of the walls extended this high and that there was a break that was repaired by a layer of cement.
Detail of Roof
The windows are 13 inches by 16 inches and are unusual because, instead of bars, they were made of pieces of flat iron with round holes for light and ventilation. This is the only calaboose with windows like this in the sample visited that at this time numbers over sixty.
Detail of Window
The bars that compose the doors are a mixture of flat iron and iron with a rounded side.Another unusual feature is the massive metal hinge that secures the door on the left. This same treatment was present on the other door but it has been removed. The doors are 34 inches across by 6 feet and 1 inch thick. According to the article in the Mexia Daily News cited above, John Conn (Grandfather of Paul Conn, Jr. – former owner of the calaboose) built the doors from rims of old wagon wheels that were “straightened out.” Another term is wagon wheel tire irons. I looked at my copy of A Historical Guide to Wagon Hardware & Blacksmith Supplies edited by Towana Spivey and published by The Museum of the Great Plains in Lawton Oklahoma in 1979 but I did not find clear drawings of wagon rim wheels that depict the curvature present on some of the bars. This book is a reprint of a 1909 wagon hardware catalog. Paul Conn, Jr. was given the job of hand drilling the holes in the bars for the bolts. Diana Echartea works at the local Chamber of Commerce and she said that there used to be a sheet metal company in town. It is likely that that is where most of the metal pieces used in this calaboose were made.
Detail of door and hinges
The Sanborn maps available online at the Perry-Casteñada Library date from 1877-1922, but this repository does not have any maps for Wortham, Texas. The City of Wortham has an original Sanborn map dated January 1926 (Sheet 3) that shows the calaboose on West Rusk Street (now West Concho) and it refers to it as a fireproof structure built in 1915 that was located in an alley in lot 9 of city block 31. The current Police Department has used the old calaboose as a means of raising money for worthy causes. Donors can have people locked up for ten minutes by the local police. On May 10, 2014 Rhonda K. Holley visited this calaboose with me as part of my Tiny Texas Jail Survey. I am grateful to Diana Echartea at for providing information regarding this interesting building. This structure conforms to Floor Plan 2a (see Floor Plans). It has been recorded at TARL as historic site 41FT643.
.