Caldwell County Jail
Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1848, Caldwell County lost its original log jail in an 1858 fire, then kept prisoners in the Courthouse basement until 1873, when outlaws' activities called for a strong stone prison. In 1908 Caldwell countains voted 725 to 311 for a $25,000.00 bond issue to erect this castellated brick structure. The jailer's quarters occupy the ground floor, over a storage area in the basement. The upper floors contain fifteen cells of concrete and steel, with one cell rising from the center of the building. Gallows are said to have been removed from this jail in the 1930s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1977
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Caldwell County lost its original log jail to an 1858 fire and held prisoners in the courthouse basement until outlaw activity prompted a stone prison in 1873. In 1908 county voters approved a $25,000 bond for this castellated brick jail, with the jailer's quarters on the ground floor and fifteen concrete-and-steel cells above, one rising from the building's center. Gallows are said to have been removed in the 1930s.
Why it matters
Fortress-like jails like this one embodied the hard edge of law and order on a Texas frontier still shadowed by outlaws.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Presbyterian Church of Lockhart
Lockhart, TX
First Presbyterian Church of Lockhart organized in 1849 with ten members under the Rev. N. P. Charlot, meeting in homes and the Masonic hall until elders bought this site in 1854 and raised a concrete building the next year. An 1879 cyclone leveled that church; successors followed in 1880 and the present sanctuary in 1914. One of the oldest congregations in the city, it still serves its neighbors through outreach.
Caldwell County
Lockhart, TX
The land that became Caldwell County began as part of DeWitt's Colony in 1825 and was carved from Gonzales County when the county was created and organized in 1848, with early settlements along Plum Creek and the San Marcos River. It honors Mathew Caldwell — nicknamed 'Old Paint' — a soldier-statesman who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and commanded the Texas Rangers. Lockhart was named the county seat.
Caldwell County Courthouse
Lockhart, TX
Caldwell County was organized in 1848 and named for Mathew Caldwell, a Texas Ranger and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The present courthouse in Lockhart—the county's third—was begun in 1893 and finished the next year, a three-story sandstone building in the Second Empire style, crowned with a central clock tower and outfitted with the era's latest conveniences, including electricity. Its mansard roof and elaborate detailing made it a proud civic landmark of the Gilded Age.
Andrew Lee Brock
Lockhart, TX
A Tennessee-born settler, Andrew Lee Brock came to Caldwell County in 1848 and started married life on a Boggy Creek parcel gifted by his father-in-law, raising a log cabin and working cotton, grain, and a cotton gin. As his family and fortunes grew, he turned to shaping Lockhart itself, raising livestock and financing a dozen commercial buildings in the town's business district — many still standing today.