Fort Bend County Jail
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Richmond Police Department Building (Fort Bend County Jail)
1897, Diebold Safe and Lock Company; 1987 rehabilitation and expansion, Merriman Holt Architects. 602 Preston St.
Located alongside the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway tracks, the former jail is an imposing Romanesque Revival structure built of red pressed brick laid with thin mortar joints, rough-faced limestone, and painted pressed metal. The castellated theme was a favorite with Victorian county jail architects and builders in Texas. Ominously, the tower was used to hang prisoners. Edward A. Blackburn Jr., in his book Wanted: Historic County Jails of Texas (2006), identified Fort Bend's as one of at least seven jails in Texas designed and built by the Diebold Safe and Lock Company of Canton, Ohio, during the 1880s and 1890s.
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