Cameron County Jail, Old
1201 E. Van Buren, Brownsville, TXThe Old Cameron County Jail, built in 1912-13 at 1201 East Van Buren Street in Brownsville, is the second facility constructed specifically to house prisoners for this county which was established in 1848. It succeeds the building constructed in 1882 that was used until this building was completed. A new Cameron County Jail was built in 1978.
The jail was built in four stages-- 1912-13, 1923, 1926, and 1930-- spanning a period during which Cameron County's population almost tripled from 27,158 (1910 Federal Census) to 77,540 (1930 Federal Census). The original 1912 building was designed by Atlee B. Ayres, and the 1930 expansion by Ayres and his son Robert M. Ayres, with associated Brownsville architects and engineers, Procter and Dudley. It is one of five jail buildings attributed to Ayres and Ayres. The building exemplifies a "modern" approach to jail design in which free-standing facilities were equipped with cell work built and installed by outside firms specializing in correctional facilities.
The Cameron County jail is eligible under Criterion A (local level) in the area of Politics and Government as the building that housed county prisoners for 65 years during a period of tremendous community growth. It is eligible under Criterion C in the area of Architecture as an evolutionary example of the work of Atlee B. and Robert M. Ayres spanning over twenty years, as well as an extant example of a correctional facility reflecting early 20th-century jail design. The building retains a high level of integrity with a period of significance from 1912 to 1945.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.