BlockFrom the record
One of 9 National Register listings published here for Austin County · listed in 1980 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Austin County Jail
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 36 S. Bell St., Bellville, 77418
- When was it listed? November 1980
- Category. building
- Census division. Bellville
- Architectural style. Romanesque Revival architecture
- National Register reference number. 80004074 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
15 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Austin County Jail between 2008 and 2011, burning about 63 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BELLVILLE/ FISHER RD |
| 10 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BELLVILLE/ REINCKE |
| 27 July 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BELLVILLE/ HWY 36 SOUTH |
| 11 July 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BELLVILLE/ CLENS |
| 30 May 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BELLVILLE / LESCHPER |
| 20 May 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SOUTH HOLLAND |
| 31 March 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | BELLVILLE/ SHELL |
| 5 February 2009 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | BELLVILLE/ LESCHPER |
Storms near this property
46 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bellville, the town this property stands in, in 46 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 19 hail, 18 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 3 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | Tornado (EF1) | Bellville | $300,000 | This tornado touched down northwest of Bellville near SH 36 then tracked along and across Koy Road. The path then crossed SH 159 near Koy Road. Numerous hardwood trees were snapped or uprooted . There was damage to one business where the metal roof was removed. At least two homes sustained damage from high winds, tree and debris impacts. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $50,000 | Power lines down and a semi-tractor trailer overturned on Highway 159. |
| May 1993 | Hail | Bellville | $50,000 | The Austin County Sheriff Department reported golf ball-size hail in Bellville. |
| April 2004 | Hail | Bellville | $30,000 | Golfball-size hail in town of Bellville. |
| March 2013 | Hail | Bellville | $25,000 | Golf ball size hail was reported at the Sheriff's office. There were also reports of roof and window damage across Bellville. |
| November 2000 | Hail | Bellville | $25,000 | no account filed |
| September 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $15,000 | Trees down along FM 949. |
| November 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Bellville | $15,000 | Damage to roof of barn. |
| November 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $15,000 | Trees down. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Bellville | $13,000 | Golf ball size hail was observed in Bellville. |
| October 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $13,000 | Trees down in and around Bellville. |
| March 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $10,000 | A tree was downed and there was a barn that was heavily damaged near the intersection of Mill Creek Road and Kuykendall Road. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $10,000 | Trees were downed and metal roofs were blown off. |
| November 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $10,000 | Tree down on road. |
| May 1999 | Hail | Bellville | $10,000 | Dime-sized hail in Piney Creek. |
| February 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $10,000 | Wind damage to several barns and businesses. |
| May 2000 | Hail | Bellville | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Hail | Bellville | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $5,000 | Powerlines blown down |
| October 1997 | Tornado (F0) | Bellville | $5,000 | Trees blown down. |
| May 1993 | Hail | Bellville | $5,000 | The Austin Count sheriff Department reported quarter-size hail in Bellville. |
| February 2001 | Hail | Bellville | $5,000 | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Hail | Bellville | $5,000 | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $3,000 | A severe thunderstorm downed power lines in Bellville. |
| March 2008 | Hail | Bellville | $2,500 | A rapidly developing severe thunderstorm produced penny-sized hail. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $2,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed some trees. |
| February 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $2,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed a tree across a road in Bellville near Highway 36. |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $2,000 | Sheriff's office reported trees down. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | $2,000 | Hurricane fence damaged and trampoline blown 200 yards downwind. |
| September 2001 | Hail | Bellville | $2,000 | no account filed |
| March 2024 | Hail | Bellville | - | A member of the public observed golf ball-sized hail in Bellville. |
| March 2024 | Hail | Bellville | - | A member of the public reported tennis ball-sized hail in Bellville. |
| March 2024 | Hail | Bellville | - | An mPING user reported golf ball-sized hail in Bellville. |
| May 2021 | Flash Flood | Bellville | - | CR 159 at East Mill Creek was impassable due to floodwaters covering the roadway. |
| May 2016 | Hail | Bellville | - | Penny size hail reported near the intersection of Highway 159 East and FM 1456. |
| March 2013 | Hail | Bellville | - | Nickel to quarter size hail was reported by a CoCoRaHS observer. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Bellville | - | A severe thunderstorm produced nickel to quarter sized hail. |
| April 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | - | Trees blown down across county. |
| March 2006 | Funnel Cloud | Bellville | - | Sighted on Highway 36. |
| April 2004 | Funnel Cloud | Bellville | - | Funnel cloud sighted in Bellville. |
| November 2004 | Flash Flood | Bellville | - | Flooding on Highway 36 in Bellville. |
| November 2004 | Flash Flood | Bellville | - | Several roads under water near Bellville. |
| October 2004 | Funnel Cloud | Bellville | - | Sighted on Hwy 159 E between Bellville and the Waller County line, or between Oil Field Road and Walton Road. |
| March 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | - | Large tree limbs downed near Bellville. |
| October 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellville | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
3 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Austin County Courthouse | under 500 feet | 2023 |
 | Old Masonic Hall | 0.1 miles | 1986 |
| Bellville Turnverein | 0.7 miles | 2024 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 80004074 in Record Group 79. |
| Austin County | All 9 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.