Texas Central State Prison Farm

Gray & Pape completed a Historic American Building Survey Level II documentation of five buildings at the Texas Central State Prison, Central 2 Camp, at the request of the Texas Historical Commission and in accordance with conditions of a wetlands permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District. The dormitory, which housed the African-American inmates at the Texas Central State Prison Farm from 1939 to 1968; three brick livestock barns constructed in 1939; and the supervisor’s shack erected in 1952, are all that remain of the Texas Central State Prison Farm in Richmond, Texas These buildings reflect the agricultural, industrial, and institutional history of the Texas Central State Prison Farm, and the state prison system in general. The Texas Central State Prison Farm, Central 2 Camp, was the first industrialized prison farm in the state, providing goods and supplies for the prison system and other state agencies. The scope of services provided by Gray & Pape included oral histories, development of an historic context, detailed architectural descriptions, and large-format, archival photodocumentation.