Open House Marks Completion of Renovations at Rotary Jail
These scenes were taken during an open house after rotary jail renovations were completed. The celebration included a ribbon cutting ceremony with Mike Kemna of Western Missouri Correction Center doing the honors. This was the first of many public tours offered at the...
Volunteers, Donations Crucial to Restoring Rotary Jail in Gallatin, MO
When the decision to restore Gallatin’s rotary jail was announced, the public was asked to help locate any items which could be returned to the jail — especially any section of jail cell bars which once encircled the prisoner cells. Several authentic...
Squirrel Cage Jail Prior to Renovations in 1993
By 1992 Daviess County’s unique antique jail had been neglected for many years. Its future was at a crossroads: either repairs must be made or the decay would soon push expenses past practicality. The roof leaked and guttering was gone; the exterior brick of the...
Daviess County’s Squirrel Cage Jail Closed by Sheriff in 1975
Daviess County no longer has a jail which will accept prisoners. County Sheriff Harold Appley condemned the jail as of Nov. 1, 1975, as being unfit to receive prisoners. In a letter to Presiding Judge Robert Owings, the sheriff stated: “Due to the present...
1970: One Jail Inmate Escapes But His Freedom is Short-Lived
The incidence of prisoner escapes were infrequent but more likely after the unusual Daviess County Rotary Jail was modified during the facility’s final years of use. One escape, which occurred Sept. 9, 1970, even bordered on the humorous. Wilburn Earl McAfee,...
Jail Break! Great Escapes from the Squirrel Cage Jail ..and other crimes
One of the reasons a Squirrel Cage Jail was constructed in Daviess County was for its apparent security. But despite its unique design, there were instances when prisoners did, in fact, escape. Here are the most noteworthy: JANUARY, 1899 Two prisoners from...
One of the First Public Buildings in Gallatin Was the ‘Pit Jail’
While most attention that can be mustered on jails focuses on the oddity of the 1889 Squirrel Cage Jail in Gallatin, some point to this jail’s predecessor with equal interest. David Stark, researching records at the county clerk’s office, offers the...
Larger 3-Story Rotary Jail at Council Bluffs, IA, Built in 1885
The antique Pottawattamie County Rotary Jail at Council Bluffs, IA, is the largest of the three rotary jails existent in the United States. This jail is impressive since its squirrel cage housed inmates on three levels. Although no longer operational, all three levels...
America’s First Rotary Jail at Crawfordsville, IN, Built in 1881
The Montgomery County Jail at Crawfordsville, IN, was the first rotary jail constructed in the United States (1881). The jail features a two story, 30-ton rotary mechanism that housed 16 wedge shaped jail cells. The jail mechanism was built above a basement which...
Visit the 1889 Squirrel Cage Jail, located 2 blocks west of the Daviess County Courthouse in Gallatin, MO. This historic relic is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as a visitors’ center — by appointment,
Trudi Burton, ph: 660.663.7342
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