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center of Attention


February 17 - May 18

OJAC holdings now include over 2,300 objects ranging from ancient to contemporary art. Center of Attention presents selections from the 132 works accessioned over the past decade. READ MORE..

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center of Attention


February 17 - May 18

OJAC holdings now include over 2,300 objects ranging from ancient to contemporary art. Center of Attention presents selections from the 132 works accessioned over the past decade. READ MORE..

WHO WE ARE

The Old Jail Art Center (OJAC) evolved from housing inmates, to thousands of permanent and traveling works of art. The museum’s original structure is a restored and repurposed limestone jail built in 1877-1878 by Scottish stonemasons, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The museum has expanded from four small galleries into 17,000 square feet of gallery, education, archive and research space that serves a core audience of 25 rural counties. The OJAC is also part of a select group of museums accredited with the American Alliance of Museums.

Since its beginning, the philosophy of the OJAC has been to offer diverse and innovative exhibition and interpretive programming to the public, free of charge. Art for All. Free for All.

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EXHIBITIONS

Explore what's on view in our art, artifact, archives, and heritage galleries.

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EVENTS

Check out upcoming events for all ages and interests!                         

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EDUCATIOn

Educational opportunities for all learners at the OJAC.

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ABOUT THE OJAC


The Old Jail Art Center has been a center for arts and culture in Texas since 1980. 

ABOUT THE OJAC


The Old Jail Art Center has been a center for arts and culture in Texas since 1980. 


Stay current

Stay up to date with the most recent news from The Old Jail!

Fall 2023 NEWSLETTER

OJAC Staff Blog

Click HERE to read more!


OUR HISTORY

OUR FOUNDERS (shown above; left to right): 

Reilly Nail with an early purchase that began his art collection, ca 1950s;
William Reilly Nail, Sr. (1903-1958) and wife Wyldon Burgess Nail (1907-1986) in Fort Worth, ca 1950s
William (Bill) Bomar, Jr., undated
Jewel Nail Bomar, undated

The Old Jail Art Center (OJAC) opened in 1980 with four small galleries, in the first permanent jail built in Shackelford County. The jail was designed and built by the civil architect John Thomas of Thomas and Woerner, Builders, Fort Worth. Construction began in 1877 and was finished the following year at the cost of more than $9,000, which outraged the local taxpayers. Scottish stonemasons carved their initials into the building's large limestone blocks, in order to ensure payment for work done once the fledgling county was solvent. You can easily see why the building was known for several decades as "the alphabet jail." The "M" and the "E" are known to be the initials of stone masons named McGuire and Emery, while the "X" and the triangle are thought to be the marks of illiterate stone masons. Considered very modern at the time of its construction, the jail was used for more than half a century until it was abandoned in 1929 in favor of the "new" jail one block to the west. Robert E. Nail Jr., Princeton graduate, local author and playwright, most notably of the Fort Griffin Fandangle, saved the building from demolition in 1940 by purchasing it for $25. He bought the lot on which it sits for $325 a few months later. One of the few outstanding examples of nineteenth-century Classic Architecture still in existence, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

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