We thank everyone who came out to celebrate our 6th annual Travis County History Day! Held on October 25, the event focused on the topic of Travis County law enforcement history and was a great success! The program was emceed by Commissioner Margaret Gómez and featured special speakers Doyne Bailey, Sheriff of Travis County from 1981-1992, and Mike Cox, historian and award-winning author, who shared stories and their personal experiences with law enforcement in Travis County.

Exhibits in the Hall of Government featured a variety of display boards, photographs, and artifacts, including uniforms, patches, and badges from the Sheriff and Constable offices, contraband items from the Travis County Jail, motorcycles, and even a 1930s Tommy Gun from the Sheriff’s Office. Video displays included a virtual tour of the old Travis County Jail on top of the Courthouse, photographs, and video of blues musician Freddie King playing in the Jail in 1976.

Travis County History Day was generously sponsored by the Austin Bar Association, the Austin History Center, the Travis County Archives, and the Travis County Historical Commission. We sincerely thank these sponsors for their commitment to helping put on a successful event year after year. We also thank the Travis County Sheriff and Constable Offices, former Travis County Sheriffs, and the Sheriffs Association of Texas, who contributed items to the exhibits. Special thanks is extended to Chief Deputy Jim Sylvester, who has completed an extensive amount of research on the history of the Sheriff’s Office and was an invaluable contributor and resource in gathering much of information, photographs and artifacts on display.

Please visit our FlickR album to view all photos of the event, and like our Facebook page to keep informed of future events!

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