The first Bibb County jail was a "substantially built" log cabin erected on Walnut Street near Fifth Street in 1823. The second jail, a two story wooden structure built in 1827, sat at the foot of Cherry Street, near the old cemetery.
The third jail, according to the Young, Gholson, Hargrove's History of Macon, was a three story building erected on Mulberry, at Sixth Street, near the then courthouse. The walls were covered inside and out with sheet iron "well spiked on". This third jail was apparently still in use in 1866, but at this point the record is murky.
Bibb County's third jail burned in 1865 or 1866. By one account, in 1866 a Union soldier in the occupying army was held in the jail for the murder of his captain. He set fire to the jail in an unsuccessful escape attempt. The jail was destroyed, and the soldier hanged. A different account has the jail burned by Union soldiers on entering the city. While it is known that the occupying soldiers did burn several buildings on Mulberry, the courthouse was unharmed, and it is doubtful the nearby jail was burned in 1865.
In any event, after the fire the county prisoners were transferred to the old City Guardhouse, which stood on the southeast corner of Broadway and Poplar. This institution housed both county and city prisoners until 1884. Six men, including the above mentioned soldier, were hanged at this jail. It continued as the Macon city jail until 1890, when a two story city jail was built next to the city hall.
In 1884, the county jail was moved back to Mulberry at Fifth Street, the present site of the former Green Jacket restaurant. By then, the courthouse had been moved to its present location. Prisoners in shackles were often marched up Mulberry to the courthouse for trial when transportation could not be provided.
Bibb County's executions were carried out in the jail yard until 1923. A gallows rope was kept ready at all times, stretched by a sandbag. Sometimes children from the neighborhood would sneak into the jail yard to use this sandbag as a swing.
In 1926, a new jail on top of the present courthouse was opened. More about the courthouse jail later.
Frank M. McKenney