Old County Jail
San Elizario, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This structure was built about 1850 of adobe bricks (sun-dried mud and reeds) and cottonwood logs around steel cell blocks. It served as official county jail 1850-66 and 1868-73, when San Elizario was the first and then third El Paso county seat. It housed both jail ("carcel" in Spanish) and courtroom ("juzgado"). According to legend, William Bonney, famed outlaw Billy the Kid, freed the only man ever to escape from this jail, his cohort Melquiades Seguro. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built around 1850 of adobe brick and cottonwood logs wrapped around steel cell blocks, this structure served as county jail while San Elizario was first, and later third, seat of El Paso County. Under one roof it held both the carcel and the juzgado—jail and courtroom together. Legend has it that Billy the Kid engineered the only successful escape from its cells, freeing his companion Melquiades Seguro.
Why it matters
A rare survivor of frontier adobe justice, it blends the Spanish-Mexican legal heritage of the Rio Grande with the tall tales of the Old West that still cling to Billy the Kid.
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Related people
- · William Bonney (Billy the Kid)
- · Melquiades Seguro
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Los Portales
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Around 1855 the farmer and rancher Gregorio Nacenseno García built this territorial-style adobe as his family home, its distinctive inset gallery — the portal — giving it the name Los Portales. By the 1870s it had become a schoolhouse, and its first teacher, Octaviano Larrazolo, went on to serve as governor of New Mexico and a United States senator. The building ties the Hispanic ranching world of the Rio Grande to a nationally significant political career.
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