Paddy Wagon - Panhandle, TX - Retired Prisons on Waymarking.com

Information Board:

Known by all three names, this vehicle was manufactured ca. 1880. One company making similar vehicles was Pauley Jail Compay of Saint Louis, Missouri or the E.T. Barnum Co. of Detroit, Michigan. Seen in movies from the 1950s to the recent group of pirate movies, wagons like this were used for many purposes. This was supposedly used to transport convicts to remote areas in Carson County to repair roads and bridges. Others remember convicts being loaded into the bed of a Model A Ford truck for transport complete with ball and chain. After the oil boom in Borger, people recall seeing the paddy wagon arrive on Sunday morning packed with miscreants from that town.

After World War II, the wagon was retired from active service and used as storage by Princt 3. Storing oil, filters, tires and tools helped the “Country Boys” with their work in the far Northwest corner of the country. It was a ritual to assign the newest Precinct 3 Commissioner to move the wagon to his place, so he had to devise a workable plan to achieve this goal. Elten Vance, the same commissioner who made the motion to build a Museum, donated this piece to the Museum after it decommissioned by the county.

The paddy wagon offers a new perspective of a sector of the residents of Carson County who di not always follow the rules of the many laws in frontier towns, just as the original jail door, immediately behind the wason, reminds visitors of the ease of going afoul of the law, the paddy wagon reminds us of how far the arm of the law can reach.

DONATED by Elten Vance and Vance Family
Josephine Anderson Foundation through Amarillo Nationa Bank
Slab by Ramirez Concrete/Elton Vance Signage by Do Stone
Thanks to Paul Detten & Precinct 3 Commissioners
Dale Moore & Charles Russ Volunteer Construction

Address: 503 Elsie Panhandle, TX USA 79068 Open to the public: Yes Fees?: None Hours: Not listed Web link: Not listed

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