Photos of the remains of the old Calaboose that was historically famous in Greenfield. It originally was enclosed in a concrete block building that was located behind the old Mule Barn on Soup Street. Sometime after 1950 it was relocated behind the City Hall in Greenfield. Then several years ago it was torn down and used as a dogpen by a private individual. Jimmy Witherspoon bought it from him and put it on a vacant lot he owns just across from the postoffice.

That location is only about a hundred yards from the original site.

The first Calaboose was built by Tom Grooms who was in the concrete business and poured many of the old sidewalks in Greenfield. The first one did not have these metal cells. Tom Grooms also served as town Marshal and 2 terms as the Weakley County Sherrif. His son Thomas Lloyd Grooms layed the blocks for the original building and he left several blocks mortared with mostly sand. Thomas Lloyd was locked up one night for a little too much to drink and knocked the blocks out and went home. It was after that the metal cells were added. 

His son Don Grooms just related this to me and also said he had been locked up one time and he set fire to the old dirty mattress that was in the cell and they came running and let him out.

The town Marshal for several years when I was a kid was John Holder. His famous saying was "I'm gonna put you in thar." Meaning - locked up in the Calaboose.

Joe Stout