The Old Stone Prison in Decatur, Texas

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The Old Stone Prison in Decatur, Texas is the first stone house in town. The house was built in 1859 by prison labor. The main house was the residence of the sheriff or deputy. The small three cell jail was in the basement with the meals being delivered by a dumb-waiter located outside the east side of the house.

The Old Stone Prison in Decatur, Texas

The Old Stone Prison

Then in 1888, the county sold the property to A. H. Whitehead and was used for city water works until 1938.

The Old Stone Prison in Decatur, Texas

Once again, it was sold and used as a private residence until 1967. The Wise County Historical Society purchased the Old Stone Prison to be used as a museum. The museum was furnished as a house might have been like before 1900.

At some point the museum moved into the Decatur Baptist College Administration building when it was donated by Coke L. Gage, a local business man for a museum.

The Old Stone Prison in Decatur, Texas

After that, the house was rented out as a private residence and as the Decatur AA Group.

One of the locals said  for a while the Old Stone Prison was used as a meeting hall. But for the last 20 years it has sat abandoned. They have talked for years about restoring the place and using it as a museum. But each year it continues to decay.

The Old Stone Prison in Decatur, Texas

Currently the building is in rough shape and the doors were wide open. Just walking up to the place, you can smell the rot and decay, with a hint of mold.

The Old Stone Prison in Decatur, Texas

As you head into the basement, you get that crappy feeling and as you might be taking your final steps to the gates of Hell. The basement has a lot of trash and the cells are gone. You can’t even tell where they might have been….

About the Images

The images were shot by hand with my Sony Nex-3N and a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8. I then edited the images in Adobe Lightroom. Next, I post processed with Topaz Clarity to add texture, brighten, and bring out the details in the images. Then I removed the dust spots. Finally, I used Topaz DeNoise to remove the noise from the images.

About James

James spends most of his free time using social media and loves to teach others about design, web development, CSS, SEO, and social media. He is addicted to Wordpress, social media, and technology. You can reach him on his personal website, Evolutionary Designs Blog, Do not forget to follow him on Twitter @element321

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  3. […] This article was originally posted on October 24th, 2014 and will not be updated. But article on VanishingTexas.com will be updated as […]

  4. […] I stopped by the abandoned farm house, I had finishing finished up at the Old Stone Prison in Decatur and I didn’t have the gear for a night shoot. O and wearing business attire isn’t […]

  5. […] This article was originally posted on October 24th, 2014 to my personal website and will not be updated. It  was then posted to […]

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