Jackson County (Mo.) Historical Society

1859 Jail, Marshal's Home & Museum

217 North Main Street, Independence, Missouri

816-252-1892

Pinch your copy of the first comprehensive history of this fascinating site:

“LOCK DOWN: Outlaws, Lawmen & Frontier Justice in Jackson County, Missouri”

This is the earliest image (1877) of the two-story, brick, federal-style Marshal’s Home that continues to front 217 North Main Street, Independence, Missouri. What you don’t see (until you surrender a small admittance) is the Jackson County Jail…huge limestone jail cells…that are situated at the back of the Marshal’s Home. The home and the lock down were both constructed beginning in 1859, using the architectural renderings of Kansas City’s pioneer architect Asa Beebe Cross (or A. B. Cross). These two structures are the earliest, surviving, documented examples of A. B. Cross’s work.

As the twelve, new, limestone jail cells were opened, hostilities between free state and pro-slavery forces were reaching a boiling point in this area of Midwestern United States. In 1854, Congress had passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened the Kansas Territory to settlement. The act provided for popular sovereignty in determining the issue of slavery. The result of this act was violent guerilla fighting which terrorized local populations on both sides of the Missouri and Kansas lines as abolitionists poured into the Kansas Territory.

The Civil War Battles of Independence and Lone Jack in 1862 ended in Confederate victories. The state of Missouri was held in the union by military force even though the elected Governor and legislators had voted to secede from the Union. In Jackson County old grudges erupted between families and neighbor turned against neighbor. Women and children were arrested and placed in the 1859 Jackson County Jail now under the command of the Union Provost Marshals nicknamed the “Little Gods” for the power they had over the population. When the Jail overflowed with the residents of Jackson County, other buildings were used as jails. One of those buildings collapsed and several young girls were killed. Historians believe that this action resulted in the raid on Lawrence, Kansas in 1863.

The raid resulted in the infamous Order No. 11 being issued which depopulated Jackson County as well as other counties along the Kansas-Missouri border. The enforcement of this order resulted in terrible hardships for the residents, many women and children had to walk to Texas or Kentucky. Many were killed in the act of obeying the order, Union and Southern families alike. Many families never returned to Jackson County after the war.

Independence artist George Caleb Bingham captured their misery on canvas (and another copy was painted on a tablecloth). He later produced an engraving of the painting and sold signed, numbered copies of “Martial Law.” One of his signed proofs is on display at the 1859 Jail, Marshal’s Home and Museum. Reproductions are available for sale.

Decades after the war ended in Missouri, the citizens of Jackson county felt the lingering bitterness and uncertainty of that great conflict. Out of these tumultuous times rode Missouri’s most notorious outlaws. Outlaws like the James boys and Youngers used the remaining animosities from the outrages of the war to stay a step ahead of the law for nearly twenty years.

After Jesse James was murdered, his older brother, Frank, began negotiations with the Missouri governor to surrender because he feared assassination. Frank James spent almost six months in the 1859 Jackson County jail.

In 1907, a brick jail was added to the back of the limestone jail to house chain gangs. Chain gangs were used to build roads, sewers and other tasks assigned them. They left six days a week at sunrise and returned at sunset. One inmate spent a year on the chain gang for stealing a cow. You can see the Marshal’s home from Main Street, but the two-story limestone jail and the 1901 chain gang jail joins the rear of the home.

Take a self-guided tour of the jail and museum for a first hand look at frontier justice. Tour the beautifully decorated home where the wife and children of the marshal lived. Guided tours are available upon request in advance.

New Book Commemorates the 150^th Anniversary of the 1859 Jackson County Jail

                A new book published by the Jackson County Historical Society, LOCK DOWN: Outlaws, Lawmen and Frontier Justice in Jackson County, Missouri, documents the origin and evolution of the oldest structure on Independence Square—the 1859 Jackson County Jail and Marshal’s Home—and its two 19^th Century predecessors.

                “Captured” here is an in-depth study offering “skeleton keys” to “unlocking” history of the early lock downs, of those who defied frontier justice, and the systems and strongmen (and their overlooked wives) who tried to keep law and order in Jackson County, Missouri.

                David W. Jackson and Paul Kirkman have also explored how the site was adaptively re-used during the Great Depression of the 1930s; through World War II; and, how it was saved by the Jackson County Historical Society, and continues as a unique, cultural history museum (1859 Jail, Marshal’s Home and Museum, 217 North Main Street).

                A roster of ALL Jackson County Sheriffs AND Jackson County Marshals (yes, we had both for half a century) and separate “rap sheet” of ALL legal hangings in Jackson County “caps” this first-ever comprehensive study spanning from 1826—when Jackson County was formed—to 1933 when the 1859 Jackson County Jail was decommissioned.

                “Pinch” your copy today through the Historical Society’s virtual bookshop: http://store.jchs.org/category.cfm?Category=36.

THE COUNTY MARSHAL, OR ONE OF HIS DEPUTIES

ARE AVAILABLE SEVEN DAYS A WEEK!

Monday—Saturday, 10—4 Sunday 1—4 (April 1 through October 31)

Adults $5 Seniors $4.50 Youths 5-15 $2 Children 5 & under FREE

Student Field Trip and Adult Group Tours are also available.

Click here for field trip and student tour information.