Quick take
- The former jail at 200 W. Calhoun St. was designed around 1920 by the Little Rock firm of Charles L. Thompson and Thomas Harding Jr., with details that match the courthouse a block away.
- It served as the jail for about 70 years and has sat empty and deteriorating since the 1990s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
- It recently sold to Dewayne Gordon of Camden, who intends to rehabilitate it, the Magnolia Reporter said.
- Preserve Arkansas uses the yearly list to draw attention and support for saving historic places.
The old jail a block from the Columbia County Courthouse is now on a statewide watch list. Preserve Arkansas named the former Columbia County Jail, 200 W. Calhoun St. in Magnolia, one of seven properties on its 2026 Most Endangered Places in Arkansas list, the Magnolia Reporter reported. The Wynne Progress also published the list, which Preserve Arkansas announced Oct. 22 in Hot Springs.
The building
The Little Rock firm of Charles L. Thompson and Thomas Harding Jr. designed the jail around 1920 in the Renaissance Revival style, with details that mirror the courthouse. It has a front portico with arched openings on Corinthian columns, gargoyles at each corner of the portico and a band of shell detailing above the second floor windows. It went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, while it was still in use.
After about 70 years as the county jail, the building has been empty and deteriorating since the 1990s.
A new owner
The building has had two private owners and recently sold to Dewayne Gordon of Camden, who intends to rehabilitate it, the Reporter said. Its downtown location “opens creative possibilities for future reuse,” the Reporter wrote.
"We look forward to working with property owners and local advocates to save these irreplaceable community assets," said Rachel Patton, the group’s executive director.