County approves grant for Old Jail plan

County commissioners narrowly approved a state grant to allow the Young County Historical Commission to pay for a use study for the 1921 jail in Graham’s town center. The commissioners split their votes, 3-11, on the $14,600 grant, which the historical commission will match with funds it has raised from private donors, said YCHC co-director Susan Smith.

The YCHC will hire Komatsu Architecture of Fort Worth to create a master plan for the three-story brick jail, which has jail cells and gallows on the top floor. Komatsu, a historic architecture firm that is working with Fort Belknap on a separate project, will be tasked with creating a master plan to rehabilitate the jail for a new use while maintaining its historic integrity.

“It’s just the initial phase. They had that money in their account already so they can come up with their part,” said Precinct 3 Commissioner Stacey Rogers, who supported the grant. “The study is going to tell them what needs to be done to the building and they can go to the planning phase. They can do it all or in little bits and pieces.”

Last year, the commissioners were considering a plan to tear down the jail to make way for a pavilion for public events when the Texas Historical Commission stepped in to designate the 101-year-old jail as a historic landmark.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Jimmy Wiley, who has consistently resisted plans to rehabilitate the jail, voted against the grant plan, pointing out an initial finding by Komatsu says the jail is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“We’ll go back to the fact that they still don’t have a clue what we want to do with it,” Mr. Wiley said. Mr. Wiley and Precinct 1 Commissioner Stacy Creswell, who abstained from the vote, argued that YCHC has been raising funds for the jail illegally and should form a tax-exempt corporation to take donations to shield the county from liability.

“It’s great to save old things, but at what cost?” Mr. Creswell said. “If they would go get a 501c3 tax-exempt setup where they could fundraise through [and] it was totally legal, and the county could let them have the building for public use and it would be theirs to deal with … I would have no problem with it.”