Pearsall's Old Jail Kept Bootleg Liquor Behind Bars

Frio County spent $11,000 on a new jail in Pearsall in 1884. The building beside the courthouse square was also the jailer's home, so home and work shared one sturdy address.

Prisoners occupied the second floor and part of the ground floor. In 1885, the county added two separate cells for women, young prisoners, and people then described as insane. A well on the grounds supplied water for years.

A different kind of inmate came by the bottle. During Prohibition, officers stored confiscated bootleg liquor in one of the cells. The jail remained in use through 1967, giving that dry-era oddity a place in a much longer working life.

The Texas Historical Commission lists the marker in place next to Pearsall's courthouse square. The building became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1970, preserving a county jail story with a resident jailer, a well outside, and contraband under lock and key.