This collection consists of four photographs of the first state prison at Wetumpka, Ala., known as "the Walls," "Prison Number 1," and "Wetumpka Prison." Male and female state prisoners were kept here from 1842 until 1921 or 1922 when Kilby Prison opened. Male prisoners were then moved to Kilby, and Wetumpka Prison became exclusively female. Julia Tutwiler Prison replaced the aged Wetumpka Prison in 1942, and the old prison closed. The photographs date from around the 1890s to early twentieth century. One photograph shows the brick main building with its large piazza which was added in 1890. Another photograph of a brick building is labeled "old women's prison, Wetumpka" on the back in pencil. However, at the time the photograph was taken, it is unlikely that a large brick building was exclusively used to house women prisoners. In the lengthy biennial reports of the Board of Inspectors of Convicts during the 1880s and early 1890s, officials frequently bemoan overcrowding in general and the absence of adequate separate housing for women in particular. Overcrowding continued to be a problem until Kilby was built and Wetumpka was renovated in 1922, at which time it became an exclusively female prison. The notation "old women's prison, Wetumpka" was probably added after Julia Tutwiler Prison opened in 1942. The two remaining photographs depict wood buildings. One was the superintendent's house which was built after 1884 but before 1914. Another photograph shows about three dozen African American women convicts sitting and standing outside a frame building where laundry hangs on clotheslines strung across the porch. Some women are wearing the striped jackets of convicts.
