Jail Hill is the area near the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte where at least three 19th century jails were constructed starting in 1800, the same year the county was established. The first “prison houses” or “common goals,” as they were sometimes known, were built on East High Street.
The county’s first jail was built at 119 East High Street after county commissioners contracted with local builder Hudson Williams. An Article of Agreement dated November 11, 1800, stipulated that the “Prison House or common Goal” (“gaol” is an old British word for jail; Pennsylvanians used the Americanized spelling “goal” instead) should be two stories tall, 30 feet long by 25 feet wide, with a cellar below, having a 2-foot, 6-inch-thick foundation.
According to the plans, “there shall be an apartment in the cellar for a Dungeon separated from the other part of the said cellar by a wall one foot eight inches thick. The said dungeon shall be twelve feet by nine feet in the clear and shall be covered above by hewed logs laid close together under the plank of the floor.”
According to jail records, the first jail was built approximately where East Pike Street and Decatur Lane meet behind 119 East High Street. This primitive jail served its purpose until August of 1811. At that time, a grand inquest of Centre County reviewed “the publick goal” and found “it to be insufficient to detain prisoners in the same with safety” and proposed that a new prison be built.
By 1814, it was apparent that the county was making steps to build a second jail. In May and June that year, the County Commissioners gave notice in the American Patriot of an upcoming meeting for the purpose of contracting workmen to erect the jail. Then in April 1815, Thomas Burnside sold his lot on East High Street to the County Commissioners “fronting the publick ground” [courthouse] for $300.
According to the deed, this lot was adjacent to the “prison lot on the west and known to be lot numbered fifty-five in the general plan” of the borough. Thus, the jail property was expanded into two lots for accommodating the larger jail and jail yard.
Lots 53 and 55 are identified as the “Goal” or “Centre County Prison” on the oldest available maps of the Bellefonte Borough published circa 1818 and 1858 respectively. Former Governor James Beaver corroborated the use and location of these early jails in a centennial speech given in June 1895.
Around 1815, a new jail (including a sheriff’s residence) was constructed and survives today at 119 E. High Street. This jail served as the Centre County Prison until about 1868 (the county often used the terms jail and prison interchangeably).
Today, the property has the appearance of a late 1800s Victorian home because builder and developer Charles McCafferty purchased the second jail shortly after he completed the construction of a subsequent third jail directly behind the courthouse. McCafferty was the highest bidder when the county sold him the second jail at auction in 1872. He paid $3,100 and sold it two years later for over $6,000. This is when the second jail was likely renovated and upgraded with a mansard roof, an improved facade with brownstone quoins, and other improvements.
McCafferty built a third jail (used from 1868-1959) directly behind the Centre County Courthouse. Featured in many local postcards, the third jail had imposing 20-foot walls with turrets, and an impressive sheriff’s residence.
The third jail was razed after a 1959 fire. While the county jail no longer remains on Jail Hill, the Centre County Sheriff’s offices behind the courthouse serve many of the same historic purposes of the older jails. What is known as the “second jail” or “old jail” at 119 E. High Street still stands today and it may be one of the oldest surviving county jails and sheriff’s residences in the state of Pennsylvania.
Matt Maris
Sources:
County Commissioner Records (1800-1833), Centre County Library & Historical Museum.
Deeds and Criminal Docket Records, webia.centrecountypa.gov (Accessed January 30, 2025).
“Historical Address.” Democratic Watchman, June 14, 1895.
1818 Map of Bellefonte Borough, Centre County Library & Historical Museum.
First Published: March 28, 2025
Last Modified: April 5, 2025