{"nrhp_refnum":"94001594","name":"Cameron County Jail, Old","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1201 E. Van Buren","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brownsville","county":"Cameron County","state":"TX","lat":25.903471111000044,"lon":-97.49280320399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-01-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick and terra cotta Classical Revival county jail at 1201 East Van Buren in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas, built in 1912-13 and expanded in 1923, 1926 and 1930.","why_significant":"The jail housed county prisoners for 65 years during a period when the county's population nearly tripled, which supports significance in politics and government. It also shows the evolving work of architects Atlee B. Ayres and Robert M. Ayres over twenty years and reflects early 20th century jail design, with its cells and detention devices largely intact.","narrative":"Built in 1912-13 at 1201 East Van Buren Street in Brownsville, this brick and terra cotta jail served Cameron County for 65 years. It was the county's second facility designed specifically to hold prisoners, replacing an 1882 jail. The building grew in stages, with a fourth story added in 1923, a two-story wing in 1926 and a major expansion in 1930, taking it from 5,000 to 20,000 square feet as the county's population climbed from 27,158 to 77,540. Atlee B. Ayres designed the original building, and he and his son Robert M. Ayres led the 1930 work with the Brownsville firm Procter and Dudley. The Classical Revival structure keeps its steel detention walls, cell doors, bar assemblies and sally-port, along with a cast iron staircase and original yard walls. After the county vacated it in 1978, the building was converted to law offices in 1994. It is valued for its role in local government and as an example of early twentieth century jail design.","period_of_significance":"1912-1945","architect_builder":"Ayres, Atlee B. (1912, architect); Ayres & Ayres/Procter & Dudley (1930, architects); Gross Construction Co. (1912, builder); Dodd & Wedgartner (1923, builder); Welton, W.A. (1926, builder); Meriwether & Sauers (1930, builder)","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Renovated for lawyers' offices, completed in early 1994; in excellent condition. The jail was vacated in 1978.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.913774-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/81/9714/40971481/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/94001594.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001594/1cea6db95b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001594/1cea6db95b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Brownsville_City_Jail.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">25or6to4</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:Old_Brownsville_City_Jail.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000811","name":"Fort Brown","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/fort-brown-66000811/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971481","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107319031"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/cameron-county/cameron-county-jail-old-94001594/"}