Old Stone Prison
Decatur, Wise County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First stone house in Decatur. Erected by prison labor about 1859. Main house was residence of sheriff or deputy. Basement was used as jail. Meals were sent down a dumb-waiter located outside the east end of the house. County sold property in 1888 to A. H. Whitehead. Used as city water works until 1938. Kept as private residence until 1967 when purchased by Wise County Historical Society as museum. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1968.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built around 1859 with prison labor, this was the first stone house in Decatur, its main floor a residence for the sheriff or deputy and its basement a jail—with meals lowered to prisoners by a dumbwaiter. The county sold it in 1888, and it later served as the city waterworks until 1938 before becoming a private home. In 1967 the Wise County Historical Society bought it for use as a museum.
Why it matters
This sturdy stone building traces a frontier town's institutional growth from rough justice through public utilities to civic memory.
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Nearby & related markers
Decatur First United Methodist Church
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Captain George Stevens
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