The Canadian County Jail and Stable comprises two buildings constructed at different times. The jail is a building located at 318 North Evans in El Reno,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. "National Register Of Historic Places Canadian County." Oklahoma Ad Valorem Forum. Vol. 25, Issue 9, September, 2016.
Accessed January 17, 2017. It is the abandoned site of the

county jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

Canadian County Canadian County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 154,405, making it the fourth most populous county in Oklahoma. Its county seat is El Reno. The county is named for the Canadian Ri ...

, and sits west of the current county jail on the same block. The stable, located at 261 W. Rogers was listed in 1995. The stable was built sometime between 1908 and 1913. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(NRHP) in 1985. The jail and stable are the oldest remaining county government structures in Canadian County."Canadian County Jail." National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form. November 14, 1985.
Accessed January 18, 2017.

Jail Building

Solomon Andrew Layton Solomon Andrew Layton (July 22, 1864 – February 6, 1943) was an American architect who designed over 100 public buildings in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area and was part of the Layton & Forsyth firm. Layton headed partnerships in Oklahoma f ...

, in partnership with W. J. Riley, and built by A.C. Kreipke, the jail was designed and built between 1904 and 1907, while the stable was built between 1908 and 1913. The jail is an example of Layton's early Oklahoma work, and features unusual Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

characteristics for a utilitarian building like a county incarceration facility. It is the only public building that Layton designed in El Reno which is still standing; it is also the oldest intact county government building in Canadian County.

Jail description - exterior

The jail is a two-story, masonry building that has a symmetrical, T-shaped floor plan, about by . The exterior walls have alternating horizontal bands of rustic faces and smooth wide surfaces. These are interrupted by the vertical openings of windows and doors. The banded walls appear to rest on a base of smooth stone that terminates about above grade with a

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

. The west elevation is the front of the building. The main entrance has two doors, with a Doric column at each side, topped with a pediment and entablature. The other major wall openings contain tall, wood-framed windows. Except for the windows flanking the main entrance, the windows are covered with iron bars and red-painted screens. The upper windows contain diagonal

muntins A muntin (US), muntin bar, glazing bar (UK), or sash bar is a strip of wood or metal separating and holding panes of glass in a window. Muntins can be found in doors, windows, and furniture, typically in History of Western Architecture, Western ...

. A single brick chimney penetrates the roof, which is covered with composition shingles. Inspection of the chimney about the time of the NRHP application showed that it needed unspecified repairs. Several alterations have been made during the building's history. For example, air-conditioning units project from three of the windows. A structure added during the 1970s connected the jail with an existing building described as a carriage house (''sic''). The additional structure was removed in 1991, and the door that connected it to the jail was filled with concrete blocks. Another exterior addition, providing more office space, was constructed along the east wall between 1954 and 1960. It connected the jail to the stable. This addition was also removed in 1991.

Jail closure

The Oklahoma State Health Department ordered Canadian County officials to close the upper floor jail cells in October, 1982, because the building did not have a fire escape. The first floor of the building was allowed to remain open until a new jail facility could be finished. Part of the old jail was used for county offices until October 1986, and was then used to store guns, alcohol and drugs confiscated by county deputies.Farley, Tim. "El Reno Jail an Antique." NewsOK. January 20, 1988.
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