The old Coosa County Jail is a former

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 ...

Rockford, Alabama Rockford is a town in Coosa County, Alabama, Coosa County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 349. The town is the county seat of Coosa County and is part of the Talladega-Sylacauga, AL Micr ...

, United States. It is the oldest extant stone jail in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. ''See also:'' It was added to 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 ...

in 1974.

History

Construction of the jail was authorized in 1839, four years after the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Coosa County was moved to Rockford. It was completed in August 1842, at a cost of $2,745 ($ in today's dollars). It was used a jail until 1938, then for storage until 1973. That year, the Coosa County Historical Society converted it to a museum.

Architecture

The jail is a three-story building measuring 20 by 40 feet (6 by 12 meters). A chimney on one end pierces the

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

. It was built using locally sourced stone, about 2 by 3 feet (0.6 by 1 meter) in size. There are two doors, on the north and east sides. The door transoms and all windows are covered by iron bars. The interior walls are plastered.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Jails on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Government buildings completed in 1842 Buildings and structures in Coosa County, Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Coosa County, Alabama Jails in Alabama 1842 establishments in Alabama