County pursuing conversion of 1921 jail to bathrooms

The Young County Commissioners Court is pursuing a renovation of the first floor of the existing 1921 county jail as a restroom facility to be utilized for public events on the downtown square. 

The renovation would convert the first floor of the building off Second Street inside the square into new men’s, women’s and families restrooms and include a new handicap accessible ramp on the exterior to allow for public access.  

“One of the things to keep in mind about this building, it is a designated historical building. We are not touching the exterior of this building,” Justin Gilmore with Level 5 Architecture said. “…The Historical Commission does not really cover anything on the interior of the portion unless they’re funding it, therefore we’re leaving the complete exterior as it is. The only thing we are changing is that ramp to get into the building.” 

The commissioners voted Monday, March 9 to authorize an engineering plan with Level 5 Architecture utilizing funding from the Young County Courthouse gazebo project.  

In November 2025, the commissioners voted not to proceed with bids to construct a new courthouse gazebo due to the bids received exceeding the $155,000 budgeted for the project. 

Gilmore spoke with commissioners Monday about the renovation project which was discussed that, upon completion, would be open during downtown events. 

“I know there’s a need and demand for some public restrooms during your larger events. There’s port-a-potties and things that are scattered around the courthouse square,” Gilmore said. “We took a look at this bottom floor, which is the old living quarters for the jail facility.” 

Gilmore said a design challenge was the solid concrete walls on the first floor that cannot be moved.  The amount of restrooms could handle around 1,000-1,500 visitors, with seven women’s toilets and six men’s toilets, with three sit-down toilets and three urinals.  

Additionally, there is a family restroom added to the building which is a building code requirement for a public facility of this type. Upon entering the building there would be an atrium area with a connected vestibule area. 

“(The vestibule) it’s unfortunately just space that we couldn’t really do much with. I could put another toilet in there, but it had to be completely separated because of that concrete wall,” Gilmore said. 

Mann Made Construction provided a conceptual project cost estimate of $450,000-550,000 in April 2025 based on the designs from Level 5 Architecture. The estimate said an asbestos survey is needed along with additional parking. 

“We’re very conceptual at this point. We don’t have real specifics, real engineering details, but we feel like that’s a good range, and we’re not going to exceed that from a budget standpoint on the project,” Gilmore said. 

Based on the cost of construction, Gilmore said they are estimating engineering costs $55,000, including design, permitting, structural engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. The project schedule is set to be bid around mid to late June, according to Gilmore. 

In October 2023, the Young County Historical Commission (YCHC) completed an over three year long project and dedicated the 1921 Young County Jail historic marker. The building formerly served as a jail for 56 years and as the Graham Area Crisis Center shelter for 38 years. 

YCHC announced in October 2022 that the jail was listed as a Texas Historical Commission (THC) Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.  

The Young County Commissioners Court made the decision in January 2025 to unseat the YCHC members and replace the entire commission with new members. YCHC, which had been conducting tours of the 1921 jail, said they were locked out of the building without notice.  

Former YCHC Chair John Bullock was present at the meeting Monday, March 9 along with other former members of the commission. Bullock asked if the court had notified THC of their intentions with the building.  

“That is part of our process for what we do. ...Because it has historical designation, we notify the state with our plans of what the intentions are. Again, we’re not touching anything on the exterior, so there’s not anything that’s involved with that.” Gilmore said. 

The county judge said the second and third floors of the building will be retained as they currently stand and will be untouched.

“It's basically a way to use that building, to retain that building and find a purpose for it. The exterior will be completely untouched and be preserved, in theory, forever, and it'll create a use for that where the public can use that building,” County Judge Win Graham said. “It's a way to put that building back into use. You have so many events on the square, and it will allow more events for this area.”