More than a century after his death, a Williamson County sheriff’s deputy killed in the line of duty was honored with a $9.9 million training facility bearing his name.
The Williamson County sheriff”s office on July 19 held a ribbon cutting for the opening of the Deputy A.W. Grimes Law Enforcement Training Center located on Chandler Boulevard north of Hutto. The 25,000-square-foot facility is named after Ahijah W. Grimes, a former Texas ranger and Williamson County sheriff’s deputy.
“We are using today not as a day of mourning, but of honoring his memory,” Sheriff Robert Chody said in a news release. “His sacrifice and service to his community will not be forgotten. We hope more lives will be saved because of the training done in this building.”
The facility, designed by Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects, will feature three classrooms for officer training, a defensive tactics room, officer fitness room and audio-visual classrooms. Each room in the training center is named after former Williamson County law enforcement who died while serving the community. It took 14 months to complete.
Grimes’ great grandson Charles Grimes and his wife Angie attended the ceremony in his honor. They were presented with a framed photo of the building and a Sheriff’s Office coin.
In a tweet before the ceremony, Chody showed officers honoring Grimes by placing flowers at his headstone in the Round Rock Cemetery on Sam Bass Road.
Grimes was born in Bastrop on July 5, 1850. He was the second youngest child of Robert Henry and Elizabeth Highsmith Grimes, who were among the first pioneer families of Bastrop County, according to the Williamson County Historical Commission.
Ahijah’s grandfather was Jesse Grimes, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and namesake for Grimes County. Jesse’s uncle, Albert Calvin Grimes, was killed at the Alamo.
The ribbon cutting was held on the 140th anniversary of the famous shootout involving Grimes and outlaw Sam Bass. Grimes was shot and killed in Round Rock by Bass, leaving behind a wife and three children.
