Sutton County Jail
Sonora, Sutton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Soon after Sutton County was organized (1890), the commissioners authorized the Pauley Jail Building and Manufacturing Co. of St. Louis to erect this jail. Construction was begun in Feb. 1891 under the supervision of Judge J. L. Dunagan. Completed in Sept. 1891, the two story native stone building had a jailer's residence in addition to cells for lawbreakers. The first prisoner here was gambler and gunman John Denson, a cousin of outlaw John Wesley Hardin. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1975
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Soon after Sutton County organized in 1890, its commissioners hired a St. Louis firm to erect this jail, completed in September 1891 as a two-story native-stone building that combined cells with a jailer's residence. Its first inmate was gambler and gunman John Denson, a cousin of the notorious outlaw John Wesley Hardin — a fitting christening for a frontier lockup. The sturdy stone structure embodies the arrival of formal law in a raw ranching county.
Why it matters
The jail marks the moment organized justice took hold on the West Texas frontier, its first prisoner tying it directly to the era's legendary outlaw world.
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Related people
- · John Denson
- · John Wesley Hardin
- · J.L. Dunagan
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Ike Miers House
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Isaac Miers, a Civil War veteran, married Victoria Morton—granddaughter of a signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence—before moving west by covered wagon around 1880 to ranch across Edwards, Kimble, and Sutton counties. In 1888 he hauled lumber from San Angelo to build this modest board-and-batten cottage, only the fifth structure in the young town of Sonora. The house survives today as a museum.
Site of Sonora Town Well
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In the arid ranchlands of Sutton County, water was the difference between a settlement and empty grass. In 1889 Charlie Adams used a horse-driven drill to sink Sonora's first well at this spot, where a windmill lifted water into a storage tank and the courthouse square soon took shape. Newer wells followed in the 1890s, and by 1895 the original waterworks had been bought up and carried away.
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The Frisco Trailway
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