{"nrhp_refnum":"82002490","name":"Turner County Jail","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"200 College St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ashburn","county":"Turner County","state":"GA","lat":31.708156960000053,"lon":-83.65197467199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-08-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Law","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick county jail at 200 College Street in Ashburn, Turner County, Georgia, built in 1906-1907 to designs by Wagoner & Dobson of Montgomery, Alabama.","why_significant":"The jail is argued to be significant as the county's best example of Romanesque style architecture, with fireproof construction typical of county jails of its time. It was the county's only jail from 1907 to 1981, representing local law enforcement, and its gallows date from when county government carried out executions. It was also one of the first two public buildings erected by Turner County and part of a system that used prison labor.","narrative":"Built in 1906-1907, this brick jail in downtown Ashburn was the first jail of Turner County, which had been formed in 1905. Wagoner & Dobson of Montgomery, Alabama, designed it, and it cost $10,855. The two-story building sits on a raised basement and has a low hipped roof, a square pyramid-roofed tower, a one-story front portico on round posts, granite lintels and elaborately corbeled cornices. Inside are plate steel cells, arched metal ceilings, and a steel gallows platform on the second floor. The sheriff's living quarters burned in 1950 and were rehabilitated, and the exterior was painted in 1976. The jail is considered the county's finest local example of Romanesque architecture and its fireproof construction was typical of jails of its day. It served as the county's only jail from 1907 to 1981 and reflects county law enforcement, executions, and the use of prison labor.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Wagoner & Dobson, Montgomery, Alabama","architectural_style":"Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as a county jail in current use; the form notes it may soon be closed if not significantly altered to meet state fire code and life safety requirements.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.387313-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/82002490.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002490/957ae0c88b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002490/957ae0c88b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bubba73 (Jud McCranie)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turner_County_Jail,_Ashburn,_GA,_US.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bubba73 (Jud McCranie)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turner_County_Jail,_Ashburn,_GA,_US.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"92001411","name":"Ashburn Heights-Hudson-College Avenue Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/ashburn-heights-hudson-college-avenue-historic-district-92001411/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206636","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turner_County_Jail","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28153460"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/turner-county/turner-county-jail-82002490/"}