Kinney County

Spofford

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Front View

This calaboose is located on the corner of a city block in Spofford, Texas between 1st Street North, 2nd Street North. and North Avenue C.  The name of the other street is not clear on Google Earth.  The owner of this calaboose is not known nor is its age.  It is a metal cage has two cells of equal size.  There are no windows because the doors are perforated with four inch square holes as is the entire back wall.  Each cell is 63 inches by 85 inches in size.  The entire cage is 10.5 feet by 7 feet (73.5 square feet) in size.  The doors are 24.5 inches by 73 inches and each one has a special opening near the top that was probably used to pass food and other objects to the prisoners.  The roof and floor are also metal.  This cage rests on a concrete slab that appears to be original for two reasons.  It looks very old and there is a groove around the edge of the slab that strongly suggests a former structure.  The current roof and supports are old but they do not look at all like they are original.    There is graffiti on the inside but much of it was not legible. The thick vegetation and collapsed roof made it difficult to get excellent pictures. When a metal cage stands alone with no visible evidence of a former structure that housed it, it is discussed in the Cages and Cells portion of this website. This calaboose conforms to Floor Plan 2i (see Floor Plans).  It has been recorded at TARL as historic site 41KY186.

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Side View

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Rear View

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Detail of Door with Opening for Passing Food to Prisoners