The Texas Prison Rodeo was held from 1931 to 1986. The arena is located next to the Walls Unit here in Huntsville. The arena in the photo above was built in 1951 and is now being torn down. I ran a 3.1-mile loop around town this evening. My route included the streets around the prison and rodeo arena. Only about 1/4th of the arena is still standing. The rest is a pile of concrete, bricks and steel.
2 comments:
I am the proud owner of a brick from the Texas Prison Rodeo Arena thanks to Tim. It will be a part of the "Close Ranch" in Jacumba, San Diego County, CA. We are one mile north of the Mexican border with 24 hour border patrol security!
Gary Close. (former long distance runner, now hiker friend of Tim Johnson, Yuma, AZ)
I know that you will appreciate the history that the brick represents. I worked with the last director of the Texas Prison Rodeo. He gave me an rodeo official badge, which got me in the arena as a photographer. I had a good time and got some great photos, especially of the entertainers, i.e. Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire and the Judds. I need to get some of those to the Texas Prison Museum. We took Phoebe to the museum while she was here. Hope she enjoyed the experience.
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