Old Coldspring Is Remembered by Its Jail

Coldspring has moved more than its name suggests. The post office opened as Coonskin in 1847. Within a year it became Fireman's Hill. In 1850 the name changed to Cold Spring, and in 1894 it was officially spelled Coldspring. The town became the county seat when San Jacinto County was created in 1870.

Then the courthouse burned in 1915. County life shifted to a higher townsite, and the older town mostly disappeared from ordinary view. TSHA notes that the old town is now marked by the old San Jacinto County Jail. The jail went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and became a registered Texas landmark in 1982.

The move did not end Coldspring's public role. A new courthouse went up, businesses followed the county seat, and lumber kept shaping the local economy. The Delta Land and Timber Company built a commissary in 1926. A Civilian Conservation Corps camp also operated at Coldspring in the 1930s.

The county's Historical Commission still keeps that old-jail thread visible from 200 Slade Street in Coldspring, including an Old Jail Museum artifact inventory and a listed phone number, 936-653-2009.