The Old St. Johns County Jail

Built in 1891, the St. Johns County Jail held prisoners until 1953. The previous county jail stood next to the Hotel Ponce de Leon in downtown St. Augustine, Florida. Henry Morrison Flagler (1830-1913), co-founder of the Standard Oil Company, founder of the Florida East Coast Railroad, and a major real estate developer, donated $10,000 toward construction of the new jail. It is the oldest surviving government building in St. Johns County. Its architecture is Romanesque Revival with elements of Queen Anne Victorian. The building was constructed by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, which later built Alcatraz prison in California along with several other jails throughout North America. The jail could house up to 72 inmates and also included living quarters for the sheriff and his family. Conditions were primitive for most of its history, with up to four inmates in a cell, no indoor plumbing until 1914, and open barred windows. After the last inmates were transferred out in 1953, the old jail became a tourist attraction recreating what life was like for prisoners at the turn of the century.

St. Augustine, Florida · United States