St John’s Police Station
The St. John’s Police Station is situated across Church Street from the Courthouse (now the Museum), making it easy to transport prisoners to court. The building was erected in 1772 and has been modified over the years. From about 1830, the compound was the Police Headquarters, but in 1978 it became the St. John’s Police Station when the new Police Headquarters was built on American Road. It has recently been renovated.
The police station was first used as an arsenal to centralise munitions of war in St. John’s. In August 1769, the arsenal burned down in the great fire. To the east of the Arsenal was the old Guardhouse, built in 1754. Adjoining this was a long stone building with grated windows. This was Antigua’s first jail until 1831, when the prisoners were transferred to the old military barracks to the east of East Street, the jail’s present location.
This photo of the Police Station in about 1860 shows police mustering outside.
By the 1890s, the building had a pitched roof.
This photo shows Market Street looking south from Newgate Street, with the Police Station on the right and Murdoch’s store, on the left, during Carnival in 1964. Following the pattern described earlier, Murdoch’s was previously owned by a Scot named William Hart. In about 1920, Hart sold to the same Jim Pigott who had bought David Torry’s store, after Hart’s son died in the war. Pigott again bought for a family member, his brother-in-law Walter O’Reilly, who had been the store’s manager.
