The Old Jail in Clay County Texas

Travelers in north Texas have many historic sites to visit and one of those is in Clay County Texas in the town of Henrietta. Henrietta is locate about 20 miles southeast of Wichita Falls and about 118 miles northwest of Dallas Texas.

Further in this article we have featured some interesting and historic sites in Henrietta you'll want to visit. 

Nobody knows for certain how the town of Henrietta got it's name. It has been suggested that the name is a feminized version for "Henry" , the first name of Henry Clay for whom the county is named after. Henrietta is the county seat of Clay County and the town goes back to 1860 when it was comprised of less than a dozen homes and a general store. The year 1860 of course marked the beginning of the American Civil War and that event in itself had perilous consequences for this remote frontier town.

Clay County and Henrietta was located in the far western area of the Texas frontier. A frontier line that would actually be rolled back during the Civil War.

Henrietta Attacked and Burned

The Civil War left settlements on the frontier open to Indian attack. The war drew soldiers out of Texas to fight further east. U.S. troops were driven out of Texas by the Confederate forces. The local soldiers there to protect the settlers were gone. Any reluctance that the Indians had to attack was soon gone and attack they did.

Because of the Indian attacks, by the year 1862 Henrietta and Clay County were essentially vacated. It's white settlers fleeing to other counties. The empty town was raided by Indians and eventually burned down.

Old Clay County Jail and Sheriff's residence

Attempts to resettle Henrietta and Clay County in both 1865 and 1870 were met with disaster. Indians massacred settlers in both instances. This was a period of Comanche and Kiowa raids which made a good deal of north Texas from Clay County westward a dangerous place to settle. After the war and into the 1870's, the U.S. Cavalry was on the move attempting to end the raiding and place the Indians within Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma and not far north of Clay County Texas.

Henrietta Resettled in the Early 1870's

With the U.S. soldiers progress against the Indians, Henrietta was resettled in about 1873 and by 1874 had it's first post office. This was also the era when barbed wire started to fence in Clay County and bring an end to the open range in this part of Texas.

In 1881 the town was incorporated and by 1882 Henrietta welcomed the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad which was a major route up to Amarillo and eventually Denver Colorado.

The Old Clay County Jail Museum

Of interest to any traveler to this part of Texas is the old Clay County Jail which today is the 1890 Jail Museum-Heritage Center. The old jail and museum is located one block from today's Clay County Courthouse at 116 N. Graham in Henrietta. As of this writing, the 1890 Jail Museum-Heritage Center is open Th. & Fri., 10-2, Sat. 1-4; admission $2 adult, $1 student. 940-538-5655 or 940-524-3465

1884 Clay County Texas Courthouse

This was also the sheriff's residence at the time and actually served as a detention center until 1973. Today's museum and heritage center included exhibits on the old west, Texas ranching, old photos and family histories and agricultural displays. The museum also has the original jail cells and gallows of which the gallows reportedly were never used. You'll also see the sheriff's residence area with it's Victorian parlor. This was at a time when the sheriff's wife would prepare meals for any jail inmates.

See the Western Trips articles on the links below...

A Visit to Quanah Texas

A Visit to the Saints Roost Museum / Clarendon Texas 

The Charles Goodnight Ranch House 

A Walking Tout of Historic Gonzales Texas


The Old St. Elmo Hotel

Another interesting site is the remains of what was once the St. Elmo Hotel. The hotel located at 106 E. Omega Street (U.S. 82) was built in 1895 and reportedly had such guests as President Theodore Roosevelt and the old Comanche warrior and leader Quanah Parker who it was said married two of his wives there. A fire destroyed the hotel's top floors and the hotel never reopened. Today, an antique store occupies a part of the original lower floor.

St. Elmo Hotel, circa 1900

The Clay County Courthouse

The Clay County Courthouse was built in 1884 and is still in use today. The courthouse was built just a few years after the town incorporated. The courthouse architecture is Classical with Italianate influences. The building's original roof was hipped on a low pitch with a clock tower that was capped by a cupola and finished with sheet metal details. In 1911 the original roof was replaced with a gable roof and a low dome. The Clay Courthouse offices are generally in their same original configuration however over the years the walls have been paneled and dropped ceilings installed.

Historic and Fun Stops Along Texas U.S. Hwy 287

The old town of Henrietta, it's 1890 Jail Museum-Heritage Center and Clay County Texas is located along U.S. Hwy 287 which is the main highway between the Dallas/ Fort Worth area and Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. This is an old route and as such has many interesting and historic sites all along it's route.

One of these is the town of Quanah Texas, located about 80 miles northwest of Wichita Falls and named after the famous Comanche Quanah Parker, has a unique museum to visit

Exhibit in old train depot at Saints Roost Museum

Another good stop is to the Saints Roost Museum in Clarendon Texas, about 60 miles southeast of Amarillo. This is a museum that features many old west and ranching artifacts along with an original bunkhouse from the old JA Ranch and an old Fort Worth and Denver Railroad depot that was moved to the museum site.

The Old 1890 Jail in Henrietta, a visit to the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railroad Museum in Quanah Texas and the very unique Saints Roost Museum in Clarendon Texas are all fun stops to make when traveling U.S. Hwy 287 between Dallas/ Fort Worth and Amarillo.

(Article and photos copyright 2014 Western Trips. St. Elmo Hotel photo courtesy http://texashistory.unt.edu)