Old Jail Museum is a museum in Gonzales, Gonzales County, dedicated in 1974. It is one of 3 museums documented in Gonzales County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 186 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 29.5014, -97.4521 near Gonzales. The nearest cataloged historic site is Gonzales County Jail (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Gonzales Courthouse, James W. Robinson, and Andrew Ponton.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #4200000666. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The Old Jail Museum in Gonzales occupies a brick jail designed by prominent Texas architect Eugene T. Heiner and completed in 1887 at a cost of $22,000, built to hold as many as 200 prisoners under riot conditions. The first floor held administrative offices, the sheriff's quarters, and a dungeon, while the upper floors contained cells, a walk-around, and the gallows, where the first permanent gallows were built in 1891. The building served as the county jail until 1975 and now houses the museum and the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce.
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