| City/Town: • Wanette |
| Location Class: • Jail |
| Built: • ~1908 | Abandoned: • N/A |
| Status: • Abandoned |
| Photojournalist: • Richard McGlathery |
The Wanette Jail can be found tucked away in the trees off 3rd street. Hard to catch a glimpse of during the summer but visible enough in the dead of winter. Not much could be found on this pecualurly built calaboose with reddish native stone held together by aged and chipping mortar. Part of the flat concrete roof and opening to the small jail has collapsed on itself, exposed to the elements. The first instance of this jail showed up on a 1908 fire insurance map with the one prior in 1904 showing no jail in this location, putting its construction sometime between 1905-1908.
Most of these jails, especially in smaller towns were hardly ever used except for the occasional drunk held inside to sober up. As a result of not being used very often they also typically weren’t kept up and running for longer than 1920-1930 although this one was probably vacated sometime before that.
Gallery Below
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4024wm.g4024wm_g072891908/?sp=1&r=0.14,0.565,0.401,0.196,0
https://www.newspapers.com/image/582206870/?terms=%22city%20jail%22&match=1
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I recently wrote an essay-narrative about Wanette and published it on my blog (below). It will soon be published as part of a book entitled The Whiskey Towns of Oklahoma, 1891-1907. I’d like to add your photo of the old jail. May I? Thank you. Wayne
Of course you have my permission for the use of any of the photos relating to the Wanette Jail. I have been working on additional research and would love to pass it on at some point. Email me. This jail was moved from Main street over to the next street 3rd street, probably after 1907. There was a Sante Fe Train Depot at the end of Main Street, and across from the road their was a court house (very small) with a small jail next to it (probably used the same bars). I suspect it was related to the train traffic in some way. There also was a hotel called “The Oriental Hotel”, who was managed by a person from Pauls Valley named A.P. Williams, who lived in Pauls Valley and apparently commuted on the train to Wanette weekly. I have tried finding photos of the old hotel but have been unsuccessful. I would be glad to forward what I have if you are interested, even though they are research notes at the moment. Likewise, I would be glad to share with you as well.