Dawson County Jail

The Dawson County Jail in Dawsonville, Georgia, also known as Old Dawson County Jail, is listed on the National [Register of Historic Places]. It was built in 1881 and modified in 1931, 1974, and 1979. It was built by M.B. McGinty, a builder from Athens, Georgia.
The jail is a two-story by red brick, Italianate-style building with a hipped roof that used to be covered by "good heart-pine shingles laid 5 inches to the weather". The exterior walls are thick and its interior walls are thick.
It is the third building to be Dawson [County, Georgia|Dawson County]'s jail; the first, built in 1858, was destroyed by fire set by a prisoner in 1865 or 1866. The second jail, with wooden walls and floors, had a "criminal floor" which was noted in 1873 to be "fine", but the "debtor's floor" was "not secure".