Dawson Jail

Dawson, Oklahoma, now absorbed into the City of Tulsa used to be its own thriving town. With this thriving town, they had their own jail as well for harboring anyone who threatened the peace.

The thick stone-concrete jail was constructed in August 1924. Upon its opening, the town dared anyone who went above 15 mph within the city limits would become the first residents of the new calaboose. This did not go over well as a few businessmen got together and protested what they called “over punishment”. They were worried that such harsh penalties might deter people from wanting to visit the town of Dawson. Justice of the Peace J.E. Stanton said that all six motorists that had been pulled over recently were not actually placed in the jail and were only fine.

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Criminal Term Begins as Dud, Jurors See No Service as Cases are Passed or Bonds Forfeited October 17, 1939 – Kenneth McBroom, a 19-year-old Dawson youth, charged with damaging the Dawson Jail when locked in it recently, won dismissal when no one appeared to testify against him.

The fire station for Dawson was built adjoining the Dawson Jail in 1945. The small station managed to have two trucks, a rescue boat, a trailer and extra hoses.

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The jail and the fire station were closed when Dawson was annexed into the City of Tulsa in 1949. But all hope wasn’t lost for the buildings that were closed and/or abandoned. Bickie Thompson took over the property in 1962 to run Bickie’s Body and Part Shop out of it.

They mended fender-benders, customized hot rods, and provided maintenance. All work was done in the fire station, in the small 9×9 foot jail cells, or under the large shade tree on the property. Thompson was just renting the jail/fire station property from the City of Tulsa for around $75 a month until he finally purchased it for $7,500 in 1978.

“You get used to it, (working in the jail cells), it’s crudely made but the walls are two feet thick and the cement ceiling makes it fireproof,” Thompson said. “It would make a good storm shelter,” Rickie also noted. In the jail they mixed paint and chemicals, but a large air compressor takes up most of the space. They removed most of the iron bars to make way for the equipment.

Around the 1990s the body shop was abandoned and the jail remained again unused. The fire station adjoining the jail has since been demolished and a new business, JP’s Pallet Yard has now moved onto the property but seemed to keep the jail shuttered. To watch an interesting news story about Dawson from 1999 see below.

Gallery Below of Dawson Jail/Tulsa Jail

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