HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Grapevine's 1914 one-room lockup, relocated to Main Street in 1994, sits near where Barrow gang associates were held after the 1934 Easter Sunday murders of two Texas state troopers.
Corner of Franklin St and Main St, Grapevine, TX 76051
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewing free. Night Watchman Ghost Tour admission charged separately; see tour website for pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic Main Street district with level sidewalks
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1914 · Grapevine's first permanent jail (1914) · Relocated from Barton Street to Main Street in 1994 · Adjacent to Barrow gang activity following 1934 Easter Sunday murders · Grapevine Historic Main Street district
The Grapevine Calaboose is a small one-room iron jail built in 1914 to serve as the town's first permanent lockup. Historical Marker Database documentation confirms the structure was originally located on Barton Street and was moved to its current position at the corner of Franklin and Main in 1994 when the city consolidated its historic downtown preservation efforts.
The building's most significant historical connection comes from events that occurred nearby on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1934. On Dove Road east of what was then State Highway 114, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker ambushed and killed Texas Highway Patrolmen H.D. Murphy and E.B. Wheeler. The murders — which occurred during a period when the Barrow gang was actively moving through North Texas — resulted in the detention of Barrow gang associates in the Grapevine area in the aftermath of the killings. The Southlake Historical Society documents the gang's presence in the Grapevine and Southlake vicinity in connection with the Easter Sunday incident.
The calaboose today stands in Grapevine's Historic Main Street district, a concentrated preservation zone that attracts significant tourism tied to the town's Victorian-era commercial architecture and wine country identity. The Night Watchman Ghost Tour identifies the calaboose as one of the most active paranormal stops on its Historic Main Street route.
Sources
Grapevine's Night Watchman Ghost Tour is built around a recurring apparition that the tour identifies as a 19th-century night watchman — a period-appropriate civic figure who would have operated in the vicinity of the town's original law enforcement infrastructure. The Calaboose, as the town's first jail, sits at the center of that narrative geography.
According to the tour documentation collected by the Having Fun in the Texas Sun blog, the Night Watchman figure is reported most consistently near the Calaboose and in the adjacent stretch of Main Street. Witness accounts describe a human figure in period clothing visible at street level after dark, present long enough to be observed, then gone when approached or when attention shifts briefly away.
The Calaboose's physical history adds historical weight to the location: the building has functioned within Grapevine's law enforcement and civic infrastructure continuously since 1914, first on Barton Street and then on Main Street after its 1994 relocation. Its proximity to the site where Barrow gang associates moved through the Grapevine area in April 1934 gives the building a connection to documented regional violent history, though the haunting tradition focuses on the earlier night watchman figure rather than the Bonnie and Clyde era.
Notable Entities
The calaboose sits at the corner of Franklin and Main in Grapevine's historic district. The one-room 1914 structure is an accessible exterior stop. The nearby Grapevine Historical Museum provides context on the town's history including the 1934 Bonnie and Clyde connection.
A guided ghost tour that identifies the Calaboose as one of the spots where the Night Watchman apparition appears most frequently. The tour covers Grapevine's Historic Main Street district after dark.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Joliet, IL
The Old Joliet Prison opened May 22, 1858, when fifty-three inmates arrived at a small structure to begin building the larger penitentiary around themselves. Designed by Chicago architect William W. Boyington and constructed of limestone quarried on-site, it operated until 2002 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.
San Elizario, TX
The building served as a private residence from 1821 to 1848 before becoming El Paso County's official jail in 1850, when San Elizario was the county seat. The Commissioners Court installed a prefabricated iron cell from Chicago capable of holding twelve prisoners. In 1876, during the Salt War period, William H. Bonney — then going by Billy the Kid — arrived before dawn, posed as a Texas Ranger, and freed his companion Melquiades Segura from custody, locking the guards inside. The structure is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Georgetown, TX
Williamson County built its fourth jail in 1888–1889, spending $22,000 on a French Bastille-style limestone structure at 312 Main Street designed by Waco architects Dodson and Dudley. The building served as the county jail for a full century, closing in 1990.