Butler County Historic Landmarks Society members have made great progress on the Old City Jail restoration project.

The project, which was begun in June, included restoring the front faade of the jail and will eventually turn the building into a city/county museum.

Society member Annabel Markle spearheaded the project upon discovery of the jail’s location this summer.

&uot;The front faade was carefully dismantled, and footings were dug and poured,&uot; Markle said. &uot;The original bricks were salvaged, cleaned and re-used to construct the faade.&uot;

She said that 80 percent of the faade was built using the original jail brick, with new brick used to construct the front steps.

The building’s original window also was refurbished; it was painted and received new glass panes.

A replica of the old door has been special ordered and will be set in place soon.

The next phase of the project – the renovation of the interior – has begun with extensive work being done on the interior beams and ceiling joices.

&uot;We still have a lot of work to do,&uot; Markle said. &uot;We still need to dismantle and reassemble the back faade, which will require more footing being dug and poured, similar to what was done on the front. The Old Jail Committee is going forward with plans for the museum.&uot;

However, to continue the renovation Markle points out the landmarks society needs to raise more funds.

&uot;We need to match the remaining grant funds from the Alabama Historical Commission,&uot; she said. &uot;We will be raffling a color TV/VCR/DVD combination. We will sell tickets at Oktoberfest this weekend to try and raise that money.&uot;