I recently enjoyed a presentation by Michael Mayes, National Register of Historic Places Program Coordinator at the State Historic Preservation Office in Oklahoma City. The presentation was held at the Oklahoma Territorial Museum in Guthrie. Mr. Mayes presented a statewide survey of early Oklahoma jails also known as “Calabooses” or “Hoosegows” “Holdover” or “The Lockup.” Calaboose is a term that may have originated in the Southwest U.S. as a word with possible Spanish and/or Creole origins. An interesting storyboard including interactive map of known early jails (including Watonga) is located https://storymaps.arcgis.c om/stories/798d3775830 547c6821cd1fea8b5b76 8 Connie Burcham, President of the Friends of the Ferguson, contacted Mr. Mayes and provided him with images of the 1893 Watonga Jail. He was able to add this to the presentation. He located early jails using Clarkson or Sanborn fire insurance maps which date from 1901. However, Google Earth images did not show the jail in the location indicated by these maps. According to This Old House…In Watonga, “in 1969, the jail was sitting on moving skids in the south part of town on the Doyle Pettis property. After consulting …, it was decided to put it on the back of the T.B. Ferguson Home lot. Siding was put over the deteriorating walls, and the roof was installed in 1970.”
Mr. Mayes surveyed jails by location and type. Many were rock, cement or steel clad. Some were wooden. One of the concerns about wooden jails was fire, and he showed reports of several deaths of inmates who had tried to burn their way out of wooden jails. There are some scorched spots in the Watonga jail as well.
As I understood, the wooden jail in Geary and the wooden jail in Watonga are the only two extant stacked wood jails in Oklahoma. The walls are built of stacked 2x4s held together with 60 penny nails or steel bars while the floor and ceiling are 2x6’s stacked side by side. The smaller jail in Geary is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 281 and Main Street near a caboose. The Watonga jail consists of two jail cells and an area for the jailor.
Unfortunately, since the jail has been moved from its original location, it will be difficult to get National Registry of Historic Places recognition for our jail, according to Mr. Mayes. Apparently, there are only six Oklahoma jails on the National Registry. However, one of the interesting things about the jail is that the registry of inmates is available.
I was talking with a Mr. Pettis originally from Watonga. He said his great-grandfather Pettis had built the jail located close to his house in Watonga and his greatuncle built the jail in Geary. How fortunate we are to have this part of our history preserved in this rare and fairly well preserved building and jail log.