Coke County Jail, successor to the county’s first one-room jail of rough lumber built about 1891, was erected in 1907 by Southern Structural Steel Company of San Antonio. The officials who let the contract were County Judge P.D. Coulson and Commissioners C.M. Barger, S.W. Gaston, T.J. Goss, and M.C. Jones. At least seven early sheriffs lived downstairs and acted as jail-keepers. Prisoners averaged about four a month and were jailed only for short terms for minor law violations. Coke County never had a felon assessed the death penalty, and the gallows on the second floor was never used.