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Welcome
to Point of Interest Road
Signs! A
collection of photos of road and trail signs. Click
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Old
St. Johns County Jail
Location
of sign - 167 San Marco Avenue in St. Augustine Florida.
Photo
taken- December 2008
Photo
courtesy of Jimmy Wayne
Text
of sign:
Old
St. Johns County Jail
Built
in 1891, the St. Johns County Jail held prisoners until 1953. The
previous county jail was located next to the Hotel Ponce de Leon in
downtown St. Augustine, Florida. Henry Morrison Flagler (1830-1913),
co-founder of the Standard Oil Company, founder of the Florida East
Coast Railroad and major real estate developer, donated $10,000
towards construction of this new jail. It is the oldest surviving
government building in St. Johns County. The architecture is
Romanesque Revival with elements of Queen Anne Victorian. It was
constructed by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of
St. Louis, which would later build Alacatraz prison in California
along with several other jails throughout North America. Up to 72
inmates could be housed in the building along with living quarters
for the sheriff and his family. The conditions were primitive for
most of its history with up to four inmates in a cell, no indoor
plumbing until 1914 and open barred windows. When the last inmates
were transferred out in 1953, the old jail building became a tourist
attraction recreating what life was like for prisoners at the turn
of the century.
A
Florida Heritage Site
Sponsored
by The Old Jail, Inc. and the Florida Department of State
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You
can find more information about the state of Florida here and a Florida
Homepage here
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