Museum offered Rocky Comfort as jail
The historic jail in Foreman, Ark., was built in 1902 by local carpenter Bun Hopson, who it’s said was the first citizen incarcerated there, for public intoxication.
The jail, near the southeast corner of Third and Schuman streets, now houses the New Rocky Comfort Museum.
Decades later, the work in 1902 by Hopson was good enough to be recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.
“The stacked 2-by-6 pine boards used in construction of the building would ensure no one would escape from the jail. Ironically, local legend holds that Mr. Hopson was also the first citizen to be incarcerated in the facility, for public intoxication,” according to the National Register of Historic Places.
The public building was used in many ways over the years, from jail to library to dance hall.
“Serving the community at various times as a jail, city hall, dance hall, civic club meeting place, and library, the building currently houses the New Rocky Comfort Museum,” the register states.
The jail was built in the stacked-plank method, with 2-by-6 pine boards offset and stacked horizontally, then nailed together.
“The New Rocky Comfort jail is significant as an excellent representative of the unusual stacked-plank method of jail construction,” according to the register.
“Although it is recorded the town of De Queen, Ark., in neighboring Sevier County also utilized this vernacular building technique for its 1890s jail, the New Rocky Comfort jail is the only know specimen in Southwest Arkansas to have survived,” the report states.