The Scott County Jail is the main detention facility for

Scott County, Iowa Scott County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 174,669, making it the third-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Davenport, Io ...

, United States. Inmates are housed for no more than one year, by Iowa law. It is located in the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality *Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...

, and is part of same facility as the Scott County Courthouse.

History

The oldest section of the jail was completed in 1897, but its opening was delayed until its metal jail cells were completed the following year. It was designed by prominent Davenport architect Frederick G. Clausen in the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

style. with The style, which was popular in the late

Victorian Era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

can be found in the

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

's rusticated finish on the lower stories and then rising to a smooth finish at the attic level. Other elements include the smaller scale, round-arched windows across the third-floor, the wide

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

and the tower on the building's north side. A tunnel connected the jail to the courthouse that faced West Fourth Street. The main entrance was moved from West Fifth Street to Ripley Street when the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At ...

tracks were elevated in 1903. The building was individually listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1983. In 2020 it was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the

Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District The Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in the central business district of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. At ...

. An annex was added to the jail in 1983 to alleviate crowding. It was built between the jail and the courthouse, and connected the two buildings. The jail became too small again, and in 1999 the inmate capacity was capped at 214. In 2004 a bond referendum was passed by county voters to expand the size of the jail. The $29.7 million expansion was opened in 2007. A new entrance pavilion that provides security screening to the entire complex was added at the same time. An annex that was opened on the north side of Davenport to house inmates was closed when the main jail was enlarged. The 2007 addition is a four-story structure, and faces south on West Fourth Street in

Downtown Davenport ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district (CBD ...

. The jail has a capacity of 354 inmates.

References

{{Historic Davenport structures Government buildings completed in 1897 Government buildings completed in 2007 Italianate architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Davenport, Iowa Jails on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Davenport, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa