Ayers & Ayers Connecting Brownsville and San Antonio
By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon
I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving holiday. The Beacon staff took a much needed vacation. We're back with a belly full of turkey. Let's hope we can stay awake long enough to write out an article.
Brownsville's first "old" Cameron County Jail is located across the street from the old Cameron County Courthouse on East Madison Street between 11th and 12th Streets. That jail was built in 1883. It was used as the jail until 1913. The jail has since seen several different businesses, including Olvera's shoe repair shop and currently houses notary public and income tax preparation businesses.
Taking the 12th Street exit from the highway, heading into Downtown Brownsville, at the intersection of 12th and East Van Buren Street, you'll see an intimidating four-story building with wrought-iron bars on the windows. This is the second Cameron County Jail built in the downtown area.
This building served as the Cameron County Jail and Sheriff's Office until 1978. It was a three-story building until 1929 when the fourth floor was added.
The building was abandoned until the 1990's, when a 1.5 million dollar renovation project sought to breathe new life into the structure. There's no mistaking the building for what it was, as many of the jail features still exist, including bars on the windows and couches and tables fashioned out of old jail bunk beds and steel doors. Photographs of the renovation process line the hallways of the building as well. Some of the old padded cells used for solitary confinement also still exist. The renovation took a year and a half to complete. Today, the building serves as a law office.
The old jail on Van Buren Street was designed by the father and son team of Atlee B. and Robert Ayers. Ayers & Ayers were also the architects who designed one of my favorite buildings (yes, I'm an architecture nerd and I have a favorite building) — The Smith-Young/Tower-Life Building in San Antonio. You may not know the building by name, but you will definitely recognize the Gothic-style building on South St. Mary's Street. Its gargoyles and green top are unmistakable.
The 1980's would usher in a new era of construction, and the last county jail near downtown was built next to the old Brownsville Herald offices, adjacent to the current Cameron County Courthouse. It is still used to this day, along with the Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center on the outskirts of town.
If you're ever on East 12th Street near Van Buren, be sure to glance up at the old city jail. Talk to your parents and grandparents and see if they have any stories of the old jails near downtown. Just don't ask grandpa about the jail around grandma — she might not know about all the trouble your dear ol' grandpa used to get into back in the day.
I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving holiday. The Beacon staff took a much needed vacation. We're back with a belly full of turkey. Let's hope we can stay awake long enough to write out an article.
Brownsville's first "old" Cameron County Jail is located across the street from the old Cameron County Courthouse on East Madison Street between 11th and 12th Streets. That jail was built in 1883. It was used as the jail until 1913. The jail has since seen several different businesses, including Olvera's shoe repair shop and currently houses notary public and income tax preparation businesses.
Taking the 12th Street exit from the highway, heading into Downtown Brownsville, at the intersection of 12th and East Van Buren Street, you'll see an intimidating four-story building with wrought-iron bars on the windows. This is the second Cameron County Jail built in the downtown area.
This building served as the Cameron County Jail and Sheriff's Office until 1978. It was a three-story building until 1929 when the fourth floor was added.
The building was abandoned until the 1990's, when a 1.5 million dollar renovation project sought to breathe new life into the structure. There's no mistaking the building for what it was, as many of the jail features still exist, including bars on the windows and couches and tables fashioned out of old jail bunk beds and steel doors. Photographs of the renovation process line the hallways of the building as well. Some of the old padded cells used for solitary confinement also still exist. The renovation took a year and a half to complete. Today, the building serves as a law office.
The old jail on Van Buren Street was designed by the father and son team of Atlee B. and Robert Ayers. Ayers & Ayers were also the architects who designed one of my favorite buildings (yes, I'm an architecture nerd and I have a favorite building) — The Smith-Young/Tower-Life Building in San Antonio. You may not know the building by name, but you will definitely recognize the Gothic-style building on South St. Mary's Street. Its gargoyles and green top are unmistakable.
The 1980's would usher in a new era of construction, and the last county jail near downtown was built next to the old Brownsville Herald offices, adjacent to the current Cameron County Courthouse. It is still used to this day, along with the Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center on the outskirts of town.
If you're ever on East 12th Street near Van Buren, be sure to glance up at the old city jail. Talk to your parents and grandparents and see if they have any stories of the old jails near downtown. Just don't ask grandpa about the jail around grandma — she might not know about all the trouble your dear ol' grandpa used to get into back in the day.
Comments
Post a Comment