Old county jail interior restoration process begins

The Old Hays County Jail has recently seen some activity for the first time in a while. Curious San Marcans need not worry as the jail is expected to see interior restorations of the historical building in the future.

First built in 1884 by Edward Northcraft, the jail was vacated by the county in1937 from then on the jail saw multiple owners over time. The jail has also been registered in the National Register of Historic Places since 1983.

“I think it was used by the Southside Community group before they built the Southside Community Center. It was temporarily used by that group for a while and then it went into the ownership of my great grandfather, Oscar Payne,” said Ryan Patrick Perkins, chairman of the 1884 Hays County Jail Restoration Committee. “He was a contractor and used it for a shop as his yard. So it passed down to his wife, and then my grandmother sold it in 1997 to preservation associates, who donated it to Hays County with a preservation meant for its restoration.”

According to Perkins, exterior restorations have previously been done; however, restoration efforts stopped for about eight years due to many factors including funding and having to wait for interior restoration designs from an architect.

“What we need to do is some work as far as getting ready for the restoration work on the interior,” Perkins said. “And we started with that, over the week end, by sorting through surplus materials that are inside the building. Some of those are historic, some of them are not.”

The goal of the restoration is to look as historically accurate as possible and while there is debate on what the exact plan is for the building following the restoration, the committee, the Historic Preservation Commission and Hays County are expected to work together to figure it out.

“I would love to have some sort of movement toward the interior restoration before the end of the year if possible, but we’ll see what kind of work we can get done between now and then,” Perkins said.

While there is no solid timeline for the project’s completion, Perkins is hopeful that changes will take place within the next year.

“My fingers are crossed, and I’m making as many steps as the chair of the committee and with the committee members to get moving on the interior restoration,” Perkins said.

For more historical information and previous preservation efforts, visit hayshistoricalcommission. com/old-hays-county-jail. html.