Published: June 16, 2008 11:04 am            

John Watson: Old jail houses Hill County Cell Block museum

Hill County joins Johnson County to the south and was created in 1853, a year before Johnson County. Hill County and the county seat, Hillsboro, were named for Dr. George Washington Hill, a pioneer Navarro County settler who served both as a congressman and as secretary of war for the Republic of Texas.

At that time the area was a wilderness populated by small bands of Indians, including the Cherokees, Comanches and the friendly Kickapoos.

A government fort was located in western Hill County to suppress hostile Indian activity. This was Fort Graham, in operation from 1849-53. The fort was located about a mile and a half east of the Brazos River on the north bank of Bear Creek. This location is about six miles northwest of Whitney. The presiding officer at Fort Graham was Major Arnold, the famous Texas soldier and founder of Fort Worth.

Richard Greenhill, director of the Hill County Cell Block Museum, provided the following brief history of the jail:

“The third jail built in Hill County in 1893, was a two-story masonry building designed by architect W. C. Dodson of Waco who also designed the courthouse, built in 1891. The jail was erected at a cost of $26,170. The front part housed the sheriff and his family, with three bedrooms upstairs and entry hall, living, dining room, pantry and kitchen on the first floor. The kitchen was also used to prepare meals for the inmates, which was passed through a slot in the wall to a deputy for distribution to the inmates. It seems the main staple was beans and cornbread eaten only with a spoon.

“With outside doors and shutters of quarter-inch steel, this is the strongest building in the county. The prisoners’ toilet was a chamber pot until the 1920's brought plumbing, sewage and electricity.

“There were no power tools at the time the jail was built, and the cell blocks were joined together and doors hung using hammer, tongs and red hot rivets heated by coal fires.

“In the early days, each county carried out its own execution. The last legal execution in Hill County occurred on a gallows outside the death cell on March 18, 1899.

“In the large room at the rear, the cell blocks were two stories high with a catwalk around three sides -- much like the prisons at Alcatraz and Sing Sing. In order to utilize space, these have been removed, but a section adjacent to the sheriff's office has been preserved for display.

“This jail, condemned for further use as such by federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes, was in use until mid-1984, when the new facility was completed.”

After the building was no longer needed for a jail, the Hill County Historical Commission obtained it for use as a county museum.

The kitchen area features a wood cook stove and a plethora of early cooking utensils.

One well-known hombre who spent the night here was a rock singer picked up for DWI. and known for recordings such as “Hound Dog,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Jail House Rock” and others.

One of the upstairs rooms is devoted to Native American artifacts, along with a large collection of arrowheads. Another exhibit is a tribute to Hill County native Willie Nelson.

One display features old telephones and telephone equipment along with a sign reading: “No job is so important, and no service is so urgent, that we cannot take time to perform our work safely. Bell System.”

A display recounts a bit of history about each town in Hill County with a special display about Fort Graham, featuring an artist's rendering of what the fort looked like and some early newspaper clippings about the fort.

Outside is still more to see. Near the back of the building is a small waterwheel set up to show how it operates. On one side the shaft from the waterwheel extends out to operate a saw such as was used in the early days to saw logs into lumber. The shaft extends out the other side to operate a gristmill like those used to mill corn and wheat. You can turn the waterwheel by hand and watch the gristmill and saw operate.

The old Peoria Cumberland Presbyterian Church was moved and placed on the back of the lot at the museum site. Restoration began on the church in 1991, and a large gazebo was added at the back of the church. One feature of the church that caught my eye was the chandelier hanging near the front of the auditorium, which featured four kerosene lamps.

The restored church and gazebo are available for weddings, family reunions and club meetings at reasonable rates.

In a way the histories of Hill and Johnson Counties are interconnected, as many of us have ancestors from both counties. The Cell Block Museum is a good place to review much of this history.

The Cell Block Museum is located on North Waco Street, one block north of the courthouse in Hillsboro. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday, April through November, Admission is free, but donations are accepted.

The museum’s stated goal is: “To stimulate interest in all aspects of the Historical Past of Hill County.”



John Watson is a Cleburne

resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.

        

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