Bonham -- As the walls come tumbling down during demolition of the old county jail located at the corner of East Sam Rayburn Drive and Chestnut Street in Bonham, no one is more uniquely qualified to reflect on the history of the former county jail better than four-term county sheriff Talmadge “T.” Moore, Jr.

"My dad opened that one up and I closed it," says Moore.

Talmadge Moore, Sr. was Fannin County Sheriff in 1941 when the 30-bed jail was built and Talmadge "T." Moore, Jr. was serving as Fannin County Sheriff in 2002 when the county opened up the 96-bed county jail on CR 4200.

At the time the jail was built, Jess Moore, T. Moore's uncle, was a county commissioner.photo by Tracy McCutcheon

For decades, the inmate population in Fannin County was relatively stable.

"The day I took office, we had nine inmates," recalls former Fannin County Sheriff Talmadge "T." Moore.

From an inmate population of nine in the summer of 1988, that number swelled to 35-40 on a daily basis in the early 1990s.

In 1941 when construction began on the old county jail, Fannin County's population was significantly larger than it is today -- 41,064 in 1940 compared to 33,915 in 2010 -- yet a 30-bed jail provided more than enough room for prisoners from the 1940s until the late 1980s.

Today, even though the county currently has approximately 7,000 fewer residents than when the old jail was built, three or four times as many beds are now needed for inmates.

Interior of the old jail - photo by Tracy McCutcheon

Even before the era of burgeoning jail populations, the 1940 jail had its problems. To start with, a two-story jail with no elevator meant that non-ambulatory inmates had to be carried up and down flights of stairs.

Then, as the local inmate numbers quadrupled from the mid-80s to the mid-90s, the budget process became much more complicated.

A workforce that was already stretched thin patrolling 899 square miles was now burdened with more and more prisoner transports, largely due to inmate overcrowding.

Perhaps worst of all, the old jail had no isolation cells, which meant one belligerent inmate could create a commotion that upsets the entire jail population. The sheriff had to be called in to resolve issues. That was the scenario "T." Moore faced for 14 of his 16 1/2 years in office.

“You couldn’t get far from it,” Moore says of the old jail.

A wall on the old jail crumbles during demolition. photo by Barbara McCutcheon

How would he compare the jail built in the early 40s to the county jail that opened in 2002 on County Road 4200?

“With the new jail came a more controlled environment,” said Moore. “Now we had 10 isolation cells, which allowed us to separate unruly prisoners from the general inmate population.”

T. Moore was a third-generation lawman. His grandfather, Tom Moore, once made appointed rounds on a big black horse as a deputy sheriff in the Telephone area in the 1920s. Tom was killed in the line of duty in the 30s when a passing motorist accidentally struck and fatally injured the deputy as he changed a tire while transporting a prisoner.

Talmadge Moore, Sr. served as sheriff for a pair of two-year terms in the late 30s and early 40s.

"T." Moore would go on to serve as sheriff for 16 1/2 years, longer than any sheriff in the county's history. Even though Moore retired in 2004 after serving an unprecedented four four-terms as Fannin County Sheriff, in a way all the personal experience of "T." Moore and collective knowledge of the Moore family lawmen continues to benefit Fannin County. The current Fannin County Sheriff, Donnie Foster, was trained by Moore. Sheriff Foster hired on as a jailer and worked his way up to chief deputy under Moore.