Preservation Gonzales receives $21,600 to begin Jail Museum restoration

The old three-story Gonzales County jail on St. Lawrence by all appearances looks as strong as any newly-constructed clay and mortar building, but to those who know every brick and bar, the jail tells a different tale. The jail tells historians it is in a state of perpetual decay. From roof to slab, the old jail is in need of some major repairs.

The Old Jail Museum is a popular museum and tourist attraction which sees hundreds of visitors each month - totaling in the thousands each year. Tourists see old-time officer's quarters, an old-fashioned sheriff’s office, barred cells, a dank dark dungeon and even gallows.

What most tourists do not see is the numerous jail windows, which are all in rapid decline.

“We have 92 windows at the jail, all of which have some degree of deterioration – if not a lot - and this has been this way for a long – long - time,” historian Sandra Wolff said. “The thing is when you have deterioration in an historical building it doesn’t get better unless you address the issue.”

Wolff said the jail is at the point where grants are needed to address the deterioration.

In December of 2016, with the jail and other declining buildings in mind, Wolff and like-minded fellow historian and preservationist Glenda Gordon established Preservation Gonzales Inc., a 501c(3) non-profit organization. 

Preservation Gonzales was set up in an effort to find funding for historical preservation projects and to make accounting easier for donors and grant writers.

“One of the reasons we formed the 501c(3) is so that we can go out for grants. Not as a county and not as a historical commission, but as an organization formed to help historic preservation in Gonzales,” Wolff said. 

Gordon said as she has set about writing grants she has discovered foundations giving grants do not want to give money to a municipality or a county.

“They want a clear foundation, or a non-profit organization,” Gordon said. “We have received money as a historical commission from small foundations that understand that historical commissions are volunteers and they’re really not giving the money to a county or city to do what they want with it.”

On behalf of the Jail Museum and in the name of preservation, Gordon and Wolff went out for the grant. The inaugural restoration project is ticketed at $43,200. The duo requested a grant in the amount of $21,600, with an equal organization match. The project is slated as a “pilot project” to address the declining jail windows. The goal of the project, according to Gordon, is to keep moisture from entering the 92 windows of the 133-year-old jail.

“If window conditions are left unchecked, moisture will continue to degrade the condition of this unique icon of early Texas law and order,” Gordon stated in her grant request summary.

In preparation for the project, Gordon and Wolff are creating an inventory and catalogue of each window providing information to a design team, which will determine which of the wooden windows, especially on the second and third floors need to be addressed immediately – stopping further damage.

As it stands, the old jail has numerous windows without glass, decaying wood, crumbling mortar, missing weights and pulleys, rusting bars and a plethora of problems, mostly causeds from moisture.

Since the building was save from demolition in 1975, some precautionary measures have been taken toward preservation, including roofing; but repairs made to the building, dating back to 1912, were less than protective, such as the removal of downspouts when the fourth-floor tower was removed. The downspouts directed drainage to an underground cistern and without the downspouts, rain collects around the foundation, creating another of several moisture problems.

Months ago, Hurricane Harvey affected the old jail, with the historic building sustaining water damage to the first-floor ceiling, specifically inside the offices of the Gonzales County Chamber of Commerce.

The initial project will take at least one year, beginning in the summer. Some windows will be covered and sealed while the best course of action is decided.