Goldsmith
Goldsmith, Texas is located at the intersection of State Highway 158 and Farm-to-Market Road 856 in northwestern Ector County. The following information was provided by Finas Wade Horton’s M.A. thesis entitled A History of Ector County, Texas submitted to the graduate college at The University of Texas at Austin in 1950 and the marker at the site of the calaboose.
The discovery of oil in the Permian Basin was the catalyst for the growth of the town. In 1936, the town was named Goldsmith in honor of rancher C. A. Goldsmith whose land included the town site. By 1937, Goldsmith had churches, a post office, a grocery store, a restaurant, and a rooming house, which offered the only shower bath in town. By 1938, there was a school and electric lamps replaced kerosene. The population declined after World Wart II as the oil service businesses moved to Odessa. The 1980 census showed 409 residents. In 1990, the population was 297, and in 2000 it was 253.
This calaboose is located in a city park in the town of Goldsmith, Texas in Ector County. According to a marker at the site, it was constructed in 1938 at which time Randolph Gillispie was the Justice of the Peach and Punck Burns was the Constable. A three-room house was constructed south of the jail to served as office and living quarters for Mr. Gillispie and his family. Prisoners were fed the same food and at the same time as the Gillispie family. Mrs. Ozelle Gillispie was the wife of Randolph and she prepared the meals.
It was measured at 25 feet and 4 inches across the front and 9 feet and 4 inches on the sides (236.4 square feet). The height from the ground to to the roof is 6 feet and 6 inches. It is divided into two cells of equal size with a door of metal bars securing each cell. At one time, there was another door in front of the bars. The existing door is 30 inches wide and 78.5 inches tall. There are six windows, one on the front and the others on the sides and back and they are 22 inches by 22 inches. Each window contains six round metal bars placed vertically and another six placed horizontally. At one time, there was a wooden frame around the windows but only was there at the time of our visit on April 11, 2014. The interior contains two small bathrooms, and the resulting floor plan of the interior is the only one of its kind so far (see Floor Plans under the Project tab). There is a metal pipe that extends from the top and two small vents (7.5″ x 9″) on the back wall that were associated with the bathrooms. This calaboose was made of concrete using the poured in place method. Small gravels were used as the aggregate and metal cable served as rebar. A metal bed was present in each of the cells. The city of Goldsmith owns it. There were no Sanborn maps for Goldsmith at the time of this study. This structure conforms to Floor Plan 2a (see Floor Plans). It has been recorded at TARL as historic site 41EC30.
