{"nrhp_refnum":"75001985","name":"Gonzales County Jail","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Courthouse Sq. on St. Lawrence St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gonzales","county":"Gonzales County","state":"TX","lat":29.501328100000023,"lon":-97.45200854099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story, tan brick county jail of cruciform plan on the courthouse square on St. Lawrence Street in Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas, built in 1887 to designs by Eugene T. Heiner with Henry Kane as contractor.","why_significant":"The jail is noted for its formal nineteenth-century composition, with brick relief used for arches, stringcourses and a decorative cornice, and for its cruciform plan. It replaced an earlier jail after decades of debate and sits on the hub square of the town's Maltese Cross layout. Its original features included a gallows, an underground passage to the courthouse and a women's floor.","narrative":"Built in 1887 on the courthouse square in Gonzales, Texas, the Gonzales County Jail is a three-story, flat-roofed building of tan brick laid out in a cruciform plan. Architect Eugene T. Heiner and contractor Henry Kane were hired by the County Commissioners' Court in 1885, and Kane made the bricks at his kiln on the Guadalupe River. The building cost $21,660.20 and replaced a first jail removed after forty years of debate. Brick relief forms the arched window openings, hoodmolds, quoins, belt course and dentiled cornice, easing the plainness of the walls. Inside, steel cell blocks separated prisoners by sex and severity of crime, and a two-story space once held a gallows, removed in 1951. An underground passage linked the jail to the courthouse. The square sits at the center of the town plan laid out in the shape of a Maltese Cross. The jail was nominated for its well-composed eclectic design and its long service as the county lock-up.","period_of_significance":"1887","architect_builder":"Henry Kane/Eugene T. Heiner","architectural_style":"Eclectic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used as a lock-up for temporary detention when nominated, with a new county jail under construction immediately to the south; the form lists it as occupied, in good use as a jail.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.21343-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/37/9721/40972137/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/75001985.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001985/4a78c9bdb4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001985/4a78c9bdb4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Carol M. Highsmith","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_old_Gonzales_County_Jail,_built_in_1887._It_now_(in_2014)_serves_as_the_offices_of_the_city_chamber_of_commerce_LCCN2014632805.tif\" rel=\"noopener\">Carol M. Highsmith</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_old_Gonzales_County_Jail,_built_in_1887._It_now_(in_2014)_serves_as_the_offices_of_the_city_chamber_of_commerce_LCCN2014632805.tif"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"96000935","name":"Gonzales Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/gonzales-commercial-historic-district-96000935/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972137","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107318573"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/gonzales-county/gonzales-county-jail-75001985/"}