Pottawattamie County Jail
The Historic Squirrel Cage Jail, former Pottawattamie County Jail | |
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| Location | 226 Pearl St. Council Bluffs, Iowa |
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| Coordinates | 41°16′35″N 95°50′39″W / 41.27639°N 95.84417°W |
| Built | 1885 |
| NRHP reference No. | 72000481 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | March 16, 1972 |
The Pottawattamie County Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States was built in 1885 and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.[1] The building is a Squirrel Cage Jail, also known as a Rotary Jail.
History
Construction of the jail was simultaneous with that of the county’s new courthouse, which was finished in 1888.[2] It was designed by William H. Brown and Benjamin F. Haugh of Indianapolis, Indiana.[2] It was built at a cost of $30,000.[3] The building was one of 18 such jails that were built in the United States and the only one that was three stories tall.[3] The front part of the jail had offices for the jailer, kitchen, trustee cells and quarters for women. The rest of the building is made up of pie-shaped cells that revolved inside of a cage. The building was designed for maximum security with minimal contact between the prisoners and the jailers.[2] The building was used as a jail until 1969.[3] In 1971 the Council Bluffs Park Board acquired the building and in 1977 the county historical society took ownership of the building and maintains it as a museum.
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ a b c "Pottawattamie County IA". Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ^ a b c "Historic Pottawattamie County Squirrel Cage Jail". Historical Society of Pottawattamie County. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
External links
- Squirrel Cage Jail - Historical Society of Pottawattamie County
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