The Jackson County Jail and Marshal's House in

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

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is a building constructed in 1859 to serve as a county jail for Jackson County, Missouri. It served in this capacity until 1933, when it was decommissioned and replaced with another structure. More recently, it has been restored and opened to the public as a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1970.

Construction

The jail was constructed in 1859 using a design by A. B. Cross, a notable early

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

in Kansas City, Missouri. It consisted of a home for the county marshal, with twelve

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

jail cells located at the rear of the residence. A brick structure was added on to the rear of the original jail in 1907, to house chain gangs who worked on roads, sewers and other public projects.1859 Jail, Marshal's Home and Museum
. The marshal lived with his family in the Marshal's residence, which was the front half of the structure. The marshal's wife often cooked meals for the prisoners, as well as her own family, in a small kitchen at the back of the house. The Marshal was paid about $50 per month, plus the use of the house, for his services. The marshal's office formed part of the residence, but had a separate entryway from the house. The jail consisted of six upstairs and six downstairs cells, with two-foot thick walls of limestone blocks. A single kerosene lamp in the hallway provided the only light at night. Two doors, one of grated iron and one of solid iron, were provided for each cell, as was a window covered with grated iron that permitted wind from the outside to enter. The cells were not heated, and some prisoners incarcerated inside died of exposure during the jail's history.Team Searches for the Supernatural in 1859 Jail
. Independence Examiner, 18 June 2010. Each cell was six by nine feet and designed to hold three prisoners, though during the Civil War, as many as twenty prisoners were confined in each one. Some of the crimes for which a person could be imprisoned in the jail prior to the Civil War included: horse racing on public streets, firing guns in town, operating a gaming house, assault and battery, disturbing the peace, disturbing a religious meeting, or building a privy "not over a pit".

Famous prisoners

During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, the jail held both military and civilian prisoners, and served as the U.S. Provost Marshal's office. William Clark Quantrill, the famous Confederate guerrilla leader, was briefly incarcerated there, as were those who refused to take a pro-Union

loyalty oath A loyalty oath is a pledge of allegiance to an organization, institution, or state of which an individual is a member. In the United States, such an oath has often indicated that the affiant has not been a member of a particular organization or ...

. After the war, its most famous inmate would be

Frank James Alexander Franklin James (January 10, 1843 – February 18, 1915) was a Confederate soldier and guerrilla; in the post-Civil War period, he was an outlaw. The older brother of outlaw Jesse James, Frank was also part of the James–Younger ...

, older brother to the famous outlaw Jesse James, who spent almost six months here in the 1880s. During his time at the jail, James' cell was furnished with a Brussels carpet, fine furniture and paintings, and he was permitted free run of the jail and hosted card games in his cell at night. Frank James' cell is preserved as it was when he occupied it, as part of the modern museum.

References

External links

1859 Jail, Marshal's Home and Museum
- Jackson County Historical Society, contains photos of the jail. {{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri Federal architecture in Missouri Houses completed in 1859 Buildings and structures in Independence, Missouri Museums in Jackson County, Missouri Prison museums in the United States History museums in Missouri Houses in Jackson County, Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Jackson County, Missouri