Jourdanton

Jourdanton was made the county seat of Atascosa County in 1910 following the two previous county seats in Navatasco (1856) and Pleasanton (1958).  Ed Blackburn, Jr. (2006:25-26) cites a court testimony by P. B. Winn in 1937 who stated that the first jail he remembered as a child in Pleasanton was a log building where he lived when his father was the jailer.  After the county seat was moved to Jourdanton, a rental house was used as the local jail until the elaborate county jail was built in 1915 at a cost of $20,000 and it is still standing.

The building depicted above is very similar to others that have been proven to be calabooses.  The size is correct and the floor plan matches that of others such as those in Cameron and Grapeland (Floor Plan 2C).  There is a door at each end and two windows on either side.  If this was an actual calaboose, the most probable scenario would be two cells with a wall in the middle.  The floor plan depicted below is for the calaboose in Grapeland.  It is presented here to show the similarity between the two.

Because the current doors are obvious replacements and the windows are covered with plywood, this building remains suspicious for now.  Rhonda noticed iron between the top of the windows and the plywood covering.  We are currently attempting to document the original purpose for this building.