So Far, The Best Idea For Old County Jail Is Making It A Museum
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DAVE’S WORLD
By David Howell
There was a meeting of the minds Monday night, you might say a last ditch effort to save the old county jail in Water Valley. Not that there is an imminent threat of demolishing the historic building, but with each passing day the deterioration becomes a little more costly to reverse.
The Water Valley Historic Preservation Commission meets quarterly, or more frequently if needed, via Zoom. The players at Monday’s meeting were Lolly Rash, Executive Director of the Mississippi Heritage Trust; James Bridgforth, national register coordinator with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History; Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors President Cayce Washington; Water Valley historian Grant Thompson; Cinnamon Foster, Water Valley Certified Local Government Coordinator; and commissioners Robbie Fisher, Emily Fransee, Mickey Howley and Nicolas Trepanier. The jail was the final agenda item, the focus was to collaborate on ideas.
Many readers may recall that a portion of the exterior brick veneer separated from the building in 2023, damage that is visible when you pass the little building next to the courthouse on Blackmur Drive as the bricks crumbled and fell to the ground.
Bricks above the front entrance of the old county jail on Blackmur Drive started crumbling in February, 2023, triggering questions about the fate of the historic building.
Supervisor Washington started the discussion, explaining that county supervisors are open to different ideas on what to do with the building. Demolition, Washington noted, would be a last resort, but there are two major hurdles.
First, the estimated cost to repair the building is approaching the half-million dollar mark. Obviously there is little appetite from the taxpayers in Yalobusha County to spend that kind of money to restore the building. Washington noted that other needs in the county ranging from roads to law enforcement take priority. District Four Supervisor Eddie Harris was a little more blunt during a discussion at the board table last year.
“If y’all vote to put one cent in that jail, I want the newspaper man to put in bold print that Eddie Harris said, “Hell naw.”
But there are grant funding sources, and with a little creativity the restoration could be viable.
That brings us to the second problem – what to do with the building if it is restored. The term used in Monday’s meeting was a purpose-built building, and it will be difficult to repurpose a structure that was built to serve as a jail. Actually the second floor is the jail, a time capsule as little has been touched since 1965, and the first floor is offices that once housed the sheriff’s department. Washington shared that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the building housed a state driver’s license office and constable’s office. Since then, the space has been used for storage.
Washington noted that without answers for these two challenges, funding and purpose, the fate of the 120 year-old building may not be good.
“If we can’t come up with a good solution, we may have to look at the alternative – maybe doing away with the building,” Washington warned.
The building is one of four designated Mississippi Landmarks in Yalobusha County with the others being the two courthouses and the Pine Valley school building. Grant Thompson noted that the building is one of oldest jails still standing in Mississippi.
Admittedly ideas about what to do with the building were slim during the discussion and the museum possibility kept coming up. Grant has accumulated pictures and photos dating back to when the jail was constructed. Grant’s extensive collection of Water Valley history includes documentation of civil rights issues connected to the building.
Cinnamon Foster also noted that African American historian Calvin Hawkins has also compiled a lot of documents, pictures and other information about the county’s Black history. Hawkins has offered to display this material if this building is utilized as a museum.
Following the discussion, all involved agreed that the next step is a walk-through of the historical building as the next tangible step as the discussion continues. Robbie Fisher is working to coordinate a date convenient for all involved.
Meanwhile other ideas for the building are welcomed. If you have an idea for this old building, let me know and I will share it with this group. Better hurry, time is running out.
