HAYS COUNTY CRIME
The 140-year-old historic Hays County Jail in downtown San Marcos was recently vandalized with graffiti, and officials say that the mark may forever stain the exterior walls.
“It is a significant tag,” Linda Coker, chair of the Hays County Historical Commission, said. “You can’t miss it. It is on the back side of the building, on the Feltner Alley side of the building, and it is big and yellow.”
The building was constructed with limestone, which will make the cleanup particularly difficult.
“The problem is, because it is old limestone, it is just porous,” Coker said. “It will probably never be completely removed. You can’t sandblast it. You can’t paint it, because it's a historical building. We can use water pressure and chemicals, but it will probably never come out completely. … There will probably always be a shadow image of it, and it just kills me.”
Hays County crews were on site Thursday assessing the graffiti and said it was likely a company would be hired to try and remove it.
Coker said that they believe the graffiti occurred recently but are trying to narrow down which day it actually occurred. It was originally reported on Monday, Oct. 21. She also said that the level of the criminal act was not yet clear. If the damage done is considered to be under $500, it would likely be considered a Class B Misdemeanor, but Coker said they were not sure if the historical designation of the property would enhance the crime committed.
“I have a call into the Texas Historical Commission asking them, but it could be way more serious than (the vandals) ever thought that it would be,” Coker said.
Constructed in 1884, the jail was designed by Edward Northcraft and B. F. Donaldson, according to the Hays County Historical Commission. It is one of the few surviving examples of the distinctive Italianate design left in the state of Texas. Northcraft also designed the Old Main building at Texas State University as well as the San Marcos Cemetery Chapel and the First Christian Church, which is now part of the Price Center.
The building was decommissioned as a jail in 1937 and had various uses until a donation from Emmett McCoy allowed the local nonprofit Preservation Associates Inc. to purchase the property in 1998. Ownership was transferred in 2008 back to Hays County, which sold the property at auction in 1952.
The restoration of the 1884 Hays County Jail is under the supervision of the Hays County Historical Commission. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and designated a State Antiquities Landmark in 2008.
Daily Record photo by Dalton Sweat
