On our last jail trip, we recorded a concrete building in Barksdale (Edwards County) as a calaboose.  One room had bars and I was told by a local resident that it had served as a jail.  There was something not quite right about it as one room had rather large windows that suggested an office or something other than a jail.  I said I thought it might have been an office for the Night Watchman or Constable.  Today, I received email from Lisa B. Scroggins, the Director of the Claud H. Gilmer Memorial Library in Rocksprings.   She posted my photo on Facebook and got several responses form local residents that suggest it was never a jail.

Floyd Collins is a life-long resident of the neighboring community of Camp Wood and the only use for this building that he remembers is being told it was an icehouse connected to the old Wallace Grocery Store.

The building is on land owned by Lisa Whittley de Aguilar’s Grandmother.  Her father told her that it is the remains of  an old hotel.  The two larger rooms were bedrooms and the smaller one was a bath.  Lisa also said it was part of a dancehall and a saloon that was once two stories, but her grandpa took off the top floor.

This building has been removed as a calaboose and is now regarded as a suspicious structure.  I greatly appreciate Ms Scroggins for taking time to share with me what she was told.

Suspicious structure in Barksdale, Texas