Unusual for Georgia jails in its “domestic” appearance, the old Effingham County Jail was built on the northwest corner of the courthouse square in 1935 to replace a simpler wood frame structure that was located at the corner of Pine Street and Early Street. An early project of the New Deal agency known as the Public Works Administration, the jail was designed in the Colonial Revival style by Savannah architect Walter P. Marshall, with the jail hardware done by Dalton’s Manly Jail Works. As was customary for the time, the structure housed the sheriff’s family on the first floor and inmates on the second floor.
At at time when Georgia had come under national scrutiny for the abysmal condition of its jails, the Effingham County Jail was seen as a positive development. The editor of the Springfield Herald wrote, in part: …the placing of the jail building was very cleverly done by the architect to give the best orientation, thus providing sunlight to all rooms and cell blocks…and that the County Commissioners are to be highly praised for their efforts in making this modern jail a reality, and it will do much toward the true prison ideal of making a prisoner a better citizen after his or her incarceration instead of a resentful or unruly person.
Hubert Carr (1895-1986) was sheriff when the jail opened and served in that capacity until 1960. His wife Hattie and daughters Louise, Dorothy, and Juanita all lived in the facility. The National Register of Historic Places nomination gives insight into how different sheriffs were in the past and gives insight into the matronly role of their wives, often overlooked: Sheriff Carr ordinarily allowed homeless people or domestic violence victims to spend a night in the holding cell, and Hattie, the sheriff’s wife, cooked breakfast for them the next morning. Mrs. Carr cooked all the meals for the prisoners in addition to her family’s meals. She provided two prisoner meals a day, which consisted of such foods as black-eyed peas, eggs, gravy, rutabagas, lima beans, cabbage, biscuits or cornbread and usually some kind of meat for each meal. She also provided baked goods, like sweet bread. Hattie washed the prisoner’s clothes in addition to her family’s clothes, took phone messages for the sheriff, and, occasionally, watched the prisoners when the sheriff was out on rounds. In her daughter Louise’s words, “She was the person who held everything together.”
The Carr sisters became familiar with the prisoners. Juanita, the youngest daughter, who was six at the time the family moved into the jailhouse, remembered playing baseball in the yard while prisoners acted as umpires by calling out plays from the windows on the second floor. Juanita also remembered becoming friends with one of the Black, female prisoners. All the sisters remembered one particular prisoner who sang hymns, like “The Old Rugged Cross.” He was kept at the jail for several months, and the girls became very attached to him. There were also family parties and significant occasions, like weddings, held at the jail. In Louise’s words, “We never thought about it being a jail. It was just home to us.”
A new jail was completed in 1993 and since that time, the old jail has been a part of the Effingham Historical Society’s Museum and Living History Site.
National Register of Historic Places