La Grange Area Chamber of Commerce (Fayette County Jail)

La Grange Area Chamber of Commerce (Fayette County Jail)

La Grange Area Chamber of Commerce (Fayette County Jail) Photograph by Gerald Moorhead
1881, Andrewartha and Wahrenberger. 171 S. Main St.

One block from the courthouse is the former Fayette County Jail, whose most infamous inmates included Raymond Hamilton and Gene O'Dare, members of Bonnie and Clyde's gang captured after a robbery in nearby Carmine. The T-shaped, rough-faced limestone building with a crenellated tower over a classical pediment includes a jailer's quarters and cells. Jim Flournoy was sheriff at the time when the work of Houston's investigative reporter Marvin Zindler led to the closing of the infamous Chicken Ranch, a nearby brothel that operated from 1905 to 1973. When a modern justice center opened in 1985, the old jail sat empty for ten years and reopened as the Chamber of Commerce and includes memorabilia and artifacts from the old jail.

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