Liberty County Jail - Hinesville, GA
N 31° 50.733 W 081° 35.792
17R E 443559 N 3523471
While this building was not Liberty County's first jail, it served longer than any previous jail. When it was built in 1892 it had "all the modern improvements and conveniences of a first class prison." 80 years later it was "a rotten, filthy rathole
Waymark Code: WM2411
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 08/31/2007
Views: 25
Text on the marker reads:
"While this building was not Liberty County's first jail, it served longer than any previous jail. When it was built in 1892 the jail had "all the modern improvements and conveniences of a first class prison." Eighty years later it was condemned by Georgia Governor Lester Maddox as "a rotten, filthy rathole."
Although there is no record of its construction or its architect, it is known that the contractor, a Mr. Parkhill, had completed the two-story, three-bay brick structure by October 1892.
The interior of the jail is divided by a brisk wall into two sections housing (or drunk tank) and two cells downstairs and two cells and the upper part of the bull-pen upstairs.
A new county jail was opened in 1969 and the Old Jail was sold at auction on March 3, 1970 to the Liberty County Historical Society, which eventually donated the building to the City of Hinesville. The Old Jail is now on the National Register of Historic Places."
Street address:
302 S. Main St
Hinesville, GA USA
31313
County / Borough / Parish: Liberty
Year listed: 1992
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event: Style: Late Victorian
Periods of significance: 1875-1899, 1900-1924, 1925-1949
Historic function: Government: Correctional Facility
Current function: Government
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Privately owned?: Not Listed
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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