1925 Henderson County Jail
Athens, Henderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
AS EARLY AS 1850, HENDERSON COUNTY OFFICIALS REALIZED THE NEED FOR A COUNTY JAIL. THE FIRST JAIL WAS COMPLETED IN 1856 OR 1857. IT BECAME KNOWN AS THE LOG CALABOOSE. A NEW JAIL WAS BUILT IN 1874 FACING NORTH COMMON STREET. ON NOVEMBER 1, 1897, A FIRE BROKE OUT IN THE MASONIC HALL AND SOON THE ENTIRE BLOCK WAS IN FLAMES, INCLUDING THE 1874 COUNTY JAIL. THE NEXT YEAR, THE HENDERSON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT ORDERED A NEW JAIL AND SITE. THIS BUILDING WAS COMPLETED IN 1898 AND WAS IN USE UNTIL 1925. OVER THE YEARS, THE 1898 JAILHOUSE DETERIORATED AND BECAME UNSAFE FOR USE. IN 1924, SEVERAL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS REQUESTED THAT A NEW JAIL BE BUILT INSTEAD OF REPAIRING THE OLD JAIL. AFTER SOME DEBATE, CONSTRUCTION WAS APPROVED WITH H.A. OVERBECK OF DALLAS OVERSEEING THE DESIGN AND THE PAULY JAIL COMPANY PROVIDING THE IRON BARS AND DOOR LOCKS. THE JAIL WAS COMPLETED IN 1925 ON THE SAME LOT AS THE 1898 BUILDING. THE 1925 HENDERSON COUNTY JAIL IS A TWO-STORY BUILDING WITH A BASEMENT, APPROXIMATELY 80 FEET BY 43 FEET IN AMERICAN GOTHIC REVIVAL STYLE WITH SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF ITALIAN URBANISM. THE BUILDING WAS EXPANDED IN THE 1980s WITH A SIDE ADDITION TO COMPENSATE FOR THE INCREASE OF INMATE POPULATIONS. BY 1989, THE COUNTY NEEDED MORE SPACE SO DISCUSSIONS BEGAN TO BUILD A LARGER JAIL ON MURCHISON STREET. PRISONERS WERE MOVED TO THE NEW JAIL IN 1991. THE 1925 HENDERSON COUNTY JAIL HAS BEEN USED AS A STORAGE FACILITY FOR THE COUNTY CLERK AND COUNTY RECORDS AND THE HENDERSON COUNTY ARCHIVES BUILDING. IT NOW SERVES AS THE HOME FOR THE HENDERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION OFFICES.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Henderson County recognized its need for a jail as early as 1850, building first a log "calaboose" and then successors that fire and decay repeatedly claimed. Completed in 1925 to designs overseen by Dallas architect H.A. Overbeck, with iron bars and locks from the Pauly Jail Company, this two-story American Gothic Revival building held prisoners until 1991. It later sheltered county records and now houses the county historical commission.
Why it matters
A county jail's long history of rebuilding mirrors the growth of local government and law on the Texas frontier and into the modern era.
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Related people
- · H.A. Overbeck
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jess Sweeten
Athens, TX
Jess Sweeten came off a steel-rigging job during the Depression and, spotted breaking up a brawl among transient laborers, was recruited into law enforcement in 1930. Descended from a line of U.S. marshals and an expert marksman nicknamed "Two Gun Pete," he was elected Henderson County sheriff in 1932 at age 26—then the youngest in Texas. He served through the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and late in life earned his GED and became a district criminal investigator before his death in 1980.
Courts Under the Oaks
Athens, TX
When Henderson County set its permanent boundaries in 1850, voters chose Matthew Cartwright's land for the new county seat of Athens, and this square was set aside as public ground. Before any courthouse rose, judges heard cases—murder, larceny, gambling, assault—beneath a large shady oak on this spot. The first district court term in October 1850 was presided over by Oran M. Roberts, later a Texas Supreme Court justice and governor.
Henderson County Courthouse
Athens, TX
When the Texas Legislature carved out Henderson County in 1846, its government met in private homes and scattered settlements before Athens became the county seat in 1850. A log courthouse gave way to a frame building that burned in 1885, and after another structure was outgrown, the county raised this Classical Revival courthouse, accepted in 1914. With its central dome, Tuscan-columned entries, and marble stairways, it has anchored the town square as the setting for civic life and the famous "Old Fiddlers" contest ever since.
Dulcinea Ann Holland Thompson Avriett
Athens, TX
Dulcinea Ann Holland came from Athens, Georgia, to Henderson County as a girl in 1847, and local tradition credits her with naming the new town of Athens for her birthplace. Widowed during the 1860s and remarried in 1867, she raised a family, helped found the local Methodist church, and became a respected civic leader. Her life spans the pioneer settlement and maturing of a East Texas community.