The Llano County Jail
Llano, Llano County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This building was erected in 1895 by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Co. of St. Louis, Mo. The gray granite for the exterior was quarried in the county. The red roof of the Romanesque revival jail provided the building its nickname, and prisoners often spoke of staying over at the "Red Top." The first floor was used by the jailer for his office and living quarters. The second floor had four cells and two drunk tanks. The third and fourth floors housed the gallows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1979
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1895 by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, this Romanesque revival jail was faced with gray granite quarried right in Llano County. Its distinctive red roof earned it the nickname the "Red Top," and the tall building packed a jailer's quarters, cells, drunk tanks, and even a gallows into four stories. It was recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1979.
Why it matters
The jail shows how frontier counties imported specialized building firms while drawing on local materials, and how justice and punishment were made visible landmarks in a growing Texas town.
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Nearby & related markers
Ford Street Commercial Row
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These three attached buildings are believed to be the work of John Goodman, a stonemason who emigrated from Germany to Llano in 1878, and they show the corbelled brickwork typical of early twentieth-century commerce. Since 1904 the buff-and-red brick row has sheltered an astonishing variety of businesses — furniture and liquor stores, cafes and saloons, a saddle shop, a domino hall, and a theater among them. In 1989 the buildings were adapted to house the Llano County Library.
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