Frio County

Moore

Front of Calaboose

Darryl Pearson is a regular contributor to the website “Red River Historian” and calabooses are one of his regular subjects. He visited this interesting concrete calaboose in Moore, Texas and shared his photos. It is on private property in a thickly wooded area. Rhonda Holley accompanied me to this calaboose on February 17, 2006 and we took additional photos. This concrete calaboose is located in private property and is the only visible sign of the town of Moore in the immediate area.

The door consists of flat metal bars arranged in a criss cross pattern. There is a wooden frame around the door that contains metal bolts that suggests there was a second door that was probably closed in bad weather. The roof has a rather steep pitch from front to back and this is the most pronounced pitch of any calabooses in the current sample. There is a metal bed on the inside but it could not be determined if it is original to the structure. The door was welded shut. Therefore, the interior could only be examined by looking through the door and the two windows.

This structure is 11′ 9″ across the front and 14′ 6″ on the sides (170 square feet). The height from the ground is 8′ 3″ in the front and 8′ 2″ in the back. The door is 80″ tall by 30″ wide. The two windows are equal in size at 20″ tall by 17.5″ wide.

The most interesting feature of this calaboose is the ceiling. When the roof was constructed the boards were placed on a ledge and left in place. This is the only calaboose where this has been observed. The only materials observed that were used to keep the concrete intact were small pebbles and there are places where erosion is taking place and threatening the structural integrity of this building.

It is located in an area of very thick secondary growth and small trees and brush had to be cut away in order to get satisfactory photographs. In the summer, it is barely visible from the road. This calaboose conforms to Floor Plan 1a (see Floor Plans).

This calaboose has been recorded at TARL as historic site 41FR115.