County Jail Turner County - National Register of Historic Places #82002490
Dublin Core
Title
County Jail Turner County - National Register of Historic Places #82002490
Description
From Application:
"The Turner County jail was built in 1906 as the newly formed (1905) county's first jail. County records show the first order of business was issuing $60,000 in bonds for a jail and courthouse. The jail was designed by Wagoner & Dobson of Montgomery, Alabama and cost $10,855. Mrs. Netta Shingler has described the last hanging in Turner Count in 1914 as a "once-in-a-lifetime" community event, with Sheriff King, Deputy Sheriff O.B. Jarman, C.H. Bishop, School Superintendent, and J.B. Thrasher, Methodist Minister present. A service was held, two hymns were sung by Mrs. Netta D. Jacobs [Shingler], the Public School Music Teacher, and Mrs. J.J. Story, a former teacher. ("If the prisoner heard us he made no sign but those conducting the service were overcome.") Ashburn, from its charter in 1896, had the nickname of "Holy City" because the merchants held prayer each morning before opening their shops. The Turner County jail has continuously served as a prison since 1907, although it may soon be closed if not significantly altered to meet state fire code and life safety requirements."
The bottom floor was the home of the sheriff and the upper floor housed prisoners who committed the pettiest to the most violent of crimes. The jail closed down after 87 years of operation in 1993.
"The Turner County jail was built in 1906 as the newly formed (1905) county's first jail. County records show the first order of business was issuing $60,000 in bonds for a jail and courthouse. The jail was designed by Wagoner & Dobson of Montgomery, Alabama and cost $10,855. Mrs. Netta Shingler has described the last hanging in Turner Count in 1914 as a "once-in-a-lifetime" community event, with Sheriff King, Deputy Sheriff O.B. Jarman, C.H. Bishop, School Superintendent, and J.B. Thrasher, Methodist Minister present. A service was held, two hymns were sung by Mrs. Netta D. Jacobs [Shingler], the Public School Music Teacher, and Mrs. J.J. Story, a former teacher. ("If the prisoner heard us he made no sign but those conducting the service were overcome.") Ashburn, from its charter in 1896, had the nickname of "Holy City" because the merchants held prayer each morning before opening their shops. The Turner County jail has continuously served as a prison since 1907, although it may soon be closed if not significantly altered to meet state fire code and life safety requirements."
The bottom floor was the home of the sheriff and the upper floor housed prisoners who committed the pettiest to the most violent of crimes. The jail closed down after 87 years of operation in 1993.
Creator
United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service
Source
https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/82002490
Publisher
August 26, 1982
Collection
Citation
United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service, “County Jail Turner County - National Register of Historic Places #82002490,” Turner County Project Digital Archive Repository, accessed November 8, 2024, https://turnercountyproject.com/archive/items/show/240.
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Comments
Katrina Prince
Thank you for providing this information and photo. My dad's family(Smith/Hobby) is from Ashburn. He proposed to my mother at Smith's Restaurant. His dad, Edd Smith, lived in El Dorado and worked at a prison as a guard. Do you know where that prison was located? It was in the Census for Turner County that his occupation was a prison guard.
Reply
Turner County Project
Katrina - Sorry, we just saw this. He may have been a guard at the Old Turner County Jail that is in the post above, but possibly a guard for the POW camp that we had here in the 1940s? I am not exactly sure on the date for the Turner County Jail located in Sycamore but I want to say more recent. Hope that gives you a little more info.
Thanks!
TCP team
Reply