Description
The two-story jail was completed in 1936 for a total cost of $27,453. Public Works Administration provided a grant of $12,310 and Rankin County provided the remainder through a bond election. The project, W1159, was approved November 14, 1935, and bids advertised in November. Contracts were awarded December 14, 1935. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History documents N. W. Overstreet & A. H. Town as architects. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger (Nov 1, 1936) identified E. L. Malvaney as architect and I. C. Garbor and Sons construction. Construction began March 9, 1936 and was completed September 22, 1936. The jail was described as “one of the most modern jail buildings in the state and is as near mob proof and escape proof as is possible to make a small jail” (Clarion-Ledger, 1936, p. 9). It was demolished c. 2006 according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Historic Resources Inventory database.
Source notes
Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Historic Resources Inventory, Brandon. Retrieved from https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/Public/rpt.aspx?rpt=publicPropSearch&Name=&StreetNo=&StreetName=&City=Brandon&County=Any
"More State PWA Work is Okehed." (November 25, 1935. Clarion-Ledger (Jackson).
"New Rankin Jail." (November 1, 1936). Clarion-Ledger (Jackson), p. 9
Status of Completed Non-Federal Allotted Projects, Report No. 5, Region No. 3. Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works Projects Division. January 3, 1940, p. no. 105.
Project originally submitted by Susan Allen on October 28, 2017.
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