Marker Unveiled at Site of First Jail, Opened 100 Years Ago

It was known to some as the “Lacy Hotel,” in honor of one of Orange County’s first sheriffs, Theo Lacy.

But it was better known as the Old County Jail, and about two dozen people gathered in Santa Ana on Wednesday to mark that building’s most visible legacy.

In the parking lot behind the Old County Courthouse lies a “footprint,” or outline of the jail, demolished in 1925 to make way for a larger building across the street.

To help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the original jail’s opening, the Old Courthouse Museum Society, along with the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, unveiled a $1,600 granite marker next to the footprint, which is now covered with tiles.

“People walk across it,” said Bruce Sinclair, president of the Old Courthouse Museum Society, “and they don’t even know what it is.”

The 4-foot-tall marker contains an etching of the jail, which has been described as Gothic because of the four large turrets that distinguished the building.

The gray granite marker was paid for by the sheriffs association, which also covered the costs of a $1,400 photo display of the jail inside the Old County Courthouse, Sinclair said.

When the brick-and-stone jail opened in 1897 at a cost of $23,000, it was Orange County’s first permanent jail and touted as state-of-the-art, escape-proof and fire-proof. A drawing of the jail and an accompanying caption even made the June 10, 1897, issue of the San Francisco Chronicle.

In addition to the three dozen or so male and female inmates, other jail tenants included Sheriff Lacy and his family, who lived on the third floor.

Maybe, said Lacy’s granddaughter Elynore Barton, who unveiled the marker, that’s why they called the jail the Lacy Hotel.