Bosque County

Clifton

This calaboose is located in downtown Clifton, Texas in an alley behind a commercial business entitled “Far Fetched” at 100 North Avenue D. According to the Bosque County Appraisal District, the property Identification number is R06667. It measures 5.47 meters across the front and 6.17 meters on the sides (363.1 square feet). The distance from the ground to the top of the walls is 2.3 meters. This jail is made of concrete that was constructed using the “poured in place” method. The slab on which it sits was poured in two episodes, and it is 27 centimeters thick. A metal threshold was attached to the entry beneath the door. Part of the threshold is covered by the wall, and only the letters “___LTON” are visible. So far, the name of the company who made it is not known. The walls were poured in 15 episodes with each form approximately 18 centimeters high. This jail contains a main room and two cells. In each cell there is a metal bed frame, a concrete platform for the toilet, and metal brace for a sink. The sinks drained to the outside and the drainpipes are still present. There is a steel plate that spans the distance from the top of the bars to the ceiling. There are two windows that allow light and ventilation for each cell. The windows are secured with metal bars and an exterior metal door can be locked if needed. The metal door on the south wall is missing. These windows are approximately 52 centimeters wide by 82 centimeters high. There are two larger windows that open to the main room. They are on the north and east walls and measure 52 centimeters wide and 86 centimeters high. The bars are round and vertically placed. No evidence of a metal exterior door was seen. At one time, the jail had electricity as evidenced by an antiquated fuse box on the north wall of the main room. It is owned by the City of Clifton and the police department has a reproduction key that was made for the large Archaic door lock that allows access to the inside of the jail. There were three Sanborn maps for Clifton that were available at the time of this story (1900, 1905, and 1911) but this historic site is not depicted on any of these maps. This structure conforms to Floor Plan 2d (see Floor Plans). It has been recorded at TARL as historic site 41BQ328.

Floor Plan for Clifton Calaboose

The Clifton calaboose has recently been converted into upscale lodging under the name Cell Block. Although I prefer for the jails to remain as they were in the day this one might have been demolished at some point in time and at least it has been preserved.

Valley Mills

First Valley Mills Calaboose

Mark Greer was raised in Valley Mills and he shared this photo of what he was told was the first calaboose in town. It is unfortunate that it is no longer present but at least we know how it looked. This is another example of boards placed on top of one another to create a wider and stronger wall that was mainly supported by the interlocking of the boards at the corners. This calaboose had a wooden roof. Several of the wooden calabooses that I have seen have tin roofs. This suggests to me that those may have been later replacements.

Second Valley Mills Calaboose

This is the last calaboose in Valley Mills. The date of construction is not known but Donna Veteto’s mother (age 88) remembers it being there in 1947. The interior consists of a small metal cage with two cells that was shipped to Texas by the J. Pauley Company of St. Louis. The size of the calaboose when the walls were present is not known. According to Mr. Greer, there was little room around the cage. Therefore, the square feet of the complete calaboose would have been approximately 93 square feet.

Posing with the owner

Mr. Greer kept most of the brick and he said Ferris brick was one of the types used. The door was wood and there was a small window on each side with metal bars. There were no windows on the rear wall. The cage came with a metal floor.