Restoration of the 1910 Jail
We consider the 1910 Archer County Jail to be our largest artifact. When the jail was decommissioned, the community rallied together to convert the building into a museum to house the artifacts and stories of the county. The jail is a cornerstone of our museum moving forward, however, it will no longer house artifacts or exhibits. We plan to restore the jail and will be a visual example of how jails used to function. It will also illustrate the establishment of early law enforcement and formation of towns in the area.
The restoration of the jail will be broken into phases. The first phase will tie the exterior walls of the building to the interior structure and stabilize the roof with steel beams and concrete footers. The second phase will be to fully restore the roof, address water abatement and collection to prevent pooling at the foundation and restore the exterior doors and windows. The third phase will focus on the interior finishes like addressing the cracking plaster walls, flaking paint on the jail cells, and restoring the wooden flooring on the first floor.
Phase 1- Wall Stabilization- COMPLETE!
We worked with Architexas, an architectural firm out of Dallas, to create documents and solutions to secure our exterior walls to the structure of the building. The first floor of the jail was built as a family living quarters for the Sheriff or Deputy and the top two floors contain cells. During the original construction of the building, the walls were not properly tied into the concrete slabs or steel cells of the second and third floors. This has resulted in the walls pulling from the building and, in some instances, up to a two-inch gap between the walls and floors, especially on the third floor. 50 steel clip angles were added throughout the second and third floors to secure the walls to the floors.
The original flat roof with four corner towers was capped with pyramidal clay tiles in the mid-1920s. We believe the extra weight has also contributed to the stress and displacement of the walls. This phase included adding two steel columns, one on the north side and one on the south side. This aids in dispersing some of the weight on the existing steel beams of the roof.
Work began early December 2023 and wrapped up in May of 2024.
We are grateful to the following foundations who have supported this phase of work:
Texas Historical Foundation: texashistoricalfoundation.org
Photos after Completed Phase 1
