Meridian

On the Sanborn fire insurance maps dated 1903 (Sheet 1) and 1909 (Sheet 1) there was a wood calaboose in Meridian, Texas. It was located in city block 18 next to the three-story stone county jail facing Bateman Street.  The Deputy Sheriff at the time was John Womack.  His daughter Jewel Womack said the calaboose was seldom used.   Those who were unfortunate to be locked up in it were mainly for drunks and sometimes people considered to be crazy.  In the summer months when it was vacant some of the children played in it because it was cool inside.  Ms. Lattimer said that it is no longer there.

 Meridian 1903

Morgan

The Meridian Times (1935) mentions the town’s new calaboose in the following article.  There is a small stone building in town but it has not been confirmed as the calaboose.

 Valley Mills

A recent conversation with local resident Mark Grear revealed that there were two calabooses in town.  The first one was a small wooden structure built in the latter part of the 19th century.  It was constructed by placing wooden boards flat on top of each other with interlocking corners for extra strength like the one in Stiles (Reagan County) that now stands in Big Lake.  He estimates the size at 6′ x 6′.  Based on the photo depicted here, 36 square feet appears to be too small.  This calaboose was destroyed by a fire in town.

wood calaboose

The next calaboose was not much larger and made of brick.  On the inside was a metal cage with two cells and two bunks in each cell.  It was made by J. Pauley of St. Louis.  When the town decided to expand the fire station, the old calaboose had to go.  Mr. Grear obtained it through a bidding process.  The bricks had to be removed and the metal cells now reside on his property.  This calaboose had two windows with bars, one on each side of the building and the door was wood. The metal cage took up most of the space. Mr. Greer remembers only a few inches of clearance on the back and sides and about two feet between the front door of the structure to the cage. He believes it was built in the early 1900s because the same brick was used to construct City Hall at that time.  The demise of this structure as a viable jail was sometime around the 1950s.

This building is depicted on the Sanborn map dated October 1932 on Avenue B next to the Farm Implement Warehouse and across from an auto repair shop. It was in the middle of City Block 2A.  The scale on the map describes it as 9 feet across the front and 8 feet on the sides (72 square feet).  The only Sanborn map for Valley Mills prior to 1932 was drafted in 1909.  However, the location of the brick city jail is not depicted on that map.

Valley Mills 1932

brick calaboose

metal cells from the brick calaboose