The OLDEST Prison In Texas Is Also The Most Infamous Prison; It’s Still Operating Today

The oldest, and first, prison in Texas is the penitentiary in Huntsville. It opened up in 1849 and has had quite a history. It is synonymous with the death sentence, as that's where inmates were sent to spend their final days. There was the rodeo that became a worldwide phenomenon. To think, it all started with one prisoner who got caught doing exactly what you would expect.

The First Prisoner In The Oldest Prison In Texas Was Caught Cattle Rustling

When the penitentiary at Huntsville opened up in 1849, the first prisoner admitted to "Walls Unit" was a cattle rustler. How could it have been for anything else? The fascinating thing about it was that at the time the prison only held three prisoners. That number would of course increase the following year and would continue to increase for quite some time after. It almost seems laughable now to imagine a prison only holding three inmates.

The Walls Unit, Texas, And The Civil War

During the Civil War, the Walls Unit played a role in housing Union prisoners of war. Legend has it that Sam Houston made a trip to visit the prisoners of war. This was supposedly days before his death in 1863.

Supposedly, the prisoners were captured after the battle that took place in Galveston Harbor.

The World Infamous Texas Prison Rodeo

It's fascinating to me that a prison that started with a cattle rustler being its first inmate, only able to hold three people, that housed Civil War era prisoners of war, would eventually be host to something like the Texas Prison Rodeo. They had a full-blown arena and people came from all over the world to watch the spectacle.

While the Texas Prison Rodeo is not something we get to enjoy these days, it was at one time the most "Texan" thing on the planet. The most unbelievable part of the Prison Rodeo is how few inmates ever tried to escape during the event.

The first, and oldest, prison in Texas is still in operation today in Huntsville, Texas.