Barksdale

(Edwards County)

This building is now classified as a suspicious structure based on information provided by the Director of the Claud Gilmer Memorial Library in Rocksprings.  She put this photo on Facebook and the comments she received included former motel, part of a saloon, and ice house.  Until I can definitely refer to it as a calaboose it will remain here.

It is located on State Highway 55 in the center of town and on the east side of the road facing south.  If it turns out to be a calaboose the room on the west side appears to have functioned as an office for law enforcement while the other two rooms were cells. The reason for this statement is that the two windows are much larger than usually found in a Texas calaboose. The middle room also has a large window but every calaboose seems to be different in some way. The date of its construction is not known but the poured in place method was most common from about 1908 through the 1920s and later in some areas. There are four windows but only one the one on the east side has metal bars. The window in the front is 36″ x 67″ while the window on the west side is 33″ x 69″ and the one on the back wall is 37″ x 69″. The small window on the east side is much smaller at 30′ x 32″. It has four round metal bars placed vertically in a wooden frame. At the time of my visit, there was a metal bed in the center room but it is not known if it is original to the building. There are three horizontal boards on the walls of the east room but their purpose has not been identified.