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Old Pickens Jail

Coordinates: 34°52′51″N 82°42′21″W / 34.88083°N 82.70583°W / 34.88083; -82.70583
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Old Pickens Jail
Old Pickens Jail, February 2011
Old Pickens Jail is located in South Carolina
Old Pickens Jail
Old Pickens Jail is located in the United States
Old Pickens Jail
LocationJohnson and Pendleton Sts., Pickens, South Carolina
Coordinates34°52′51″N 82°42′21″W / 34.88083°N 82.70583°W / 34.88083; -82.70583
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1903 (1903)
NRHP reference No.79002390[1]
Added to NRHPApril 11, 1979

Old Pickens Jail, also known as Pickens County Jail, is a historic jail located at Pickens, Pickens County, South Carolina. It was built in 1903, and is a two-story, brick building with a two-story crenellated tower. It was expanded in 1928 to provide additional space for the cellblock. The jail closed in August 1975, and has since been used as a historical museum and art gallery.[2][3]

This building gained infamy when Willie Earle was forcefully removed from the Pickens County Jail by a mob on February 16, 1947. When confronted by the mob, the jailer's response was: "I guess you boys know what you're doing." Willie Earle was subsequently lynched nearby in Greenville County, SC.[4]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ Jill Kemmerlin; Gwen Garrett & Mark Schader (January 1979). "Old Pickens Jail" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Old Pickens Jail, Pickens County (Johnson & Pendleton Sts., Pickens )". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  4. ^ West, Rebecca (June 6, 1947). "Opera In Greenville". New Yorker Magazine. Retrieved December 17, 2019.