The Rotary Jail

The rotary jail was a very unusual architectural design. In response to a need for better control over prisoners, 18 of the revolving, escape-proof structures were erected in the United States from 1882 through 1889. There were problems. There were mechanical difficulties due to the extreme weight of the components. Unwary prisoners lost digits or limbs when carousels were rotated without warning--one lost his life. Because inmates could only be let out of their cells one at a time, some rotary jails were closed as fire hazards. This book describes in detail their construction, operation and eventual demise, as well as some of the colorful inmates that were held in them.

America's rotary jails were patented in 1881 by Haugh, Brown, and Ketcham of Indianapolis, Indiana. They were promoted as one of the safest, securest of jail designs and claimed that their interiors of steel and iron were both "saw-proof and file-proof." The design ultimately failed on all accounts. There were multiple escapes, recorded incidents of injury and death, and at least one instance where the prisoners inside were shocked when a bolt of lightning struck nearby. That was at the Nodaway County jail. This book not only details the long and interesting history of the Nodaway County rotary jail, which I and my family lived in during my father's term as sheriff between 1977 and 1980, but it encapsulates the history of all five jails, to date, that Nodaway County has built and used.The Human Squirrel Cage, or rotary jail, located in Nodaway County, Missouri was the third jail of its kind constructed in the United States. There were only eighteen built, in total. The first completed was at Crawfordsville, Indiana, in January of 1882. The second was finished in July of 1882 in Paducah, Kentucky. The Nodaway County rotary jail aka Lazy-Susan jail or merry-go-round jail was finished in December of 1882. Missouri is the only state to have constructed three rotary jails. The rotary jail built in the Nodaway County seat of Maryville, was the first of its kind in the state, and the largest of those three. It was the last rotary jail in use as a jail in the country, standing for over 102 years and 1 month, even though its rotary cages stopped revolving and was fixed in place in 1932. Only three "human squirrel cages," as they became known, remain standing today. All three are museums. The first is located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The second is located in Gallatin, Missouri. The third is located in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Nodaway County rotary jail was razed in 1985 to make way for the jail in use today. I hope you enjoy reading the Human Squirrel Cage - Nodaway County's Rotary Jail as much as I have enjoyed working on this project.

Alternately lauded as the future of architecture or dismissed as pure folly, revolving buildings are a fascinating missing chapter in architectural history with surprising relevance to issues in contemporary architectural design. Rotating structures have been employed to solve problems and create effects that stationary buildings can't achieve. Rotating buildings offeredever-changing vistas and made interior spaces more flexible and adaptable. They were used to impress visitors, treatpatients, and improve the green qualities of a structure by keeping particular rooms in or out of the sun. The follow-up to his critically acclaimed book A-frame, Chad Randl's Revolving Architecture: A History of Buildings that Rotate, Swivel, and Pivot explores the history of this unique building type, investigating the cultural forces that have driven people to design and inhabit them. Revolving Architecture is packed with a variety of fantastic revolving structures such as a jail that kept inmates under a wardens constant surveillance, glamorous revolving restaurants, tuberculosis treatment wards, houses, theaters, and even a contemporary residential building whose full-floor apartments circle independently of each other. International examples from the late 1800s though the present demonstrate the variety and innovation of these dynamic structures.

Heavily illustrated guide to the historic county jails of Texas. Edward A. Blackburn, Jr., takes readers to each of the 254 counties in the state, presenting brief histories of the counties and the structures that housed their criminals. He provides general information about the architecture and location of the buildings and, when possible, describes the present uses of those that have been decommissioned.

North Central Indiana is rich in farmlands, wind turbines, and small towns. It is also thick with ghosts. Ghastly apparitions roam the town of Battle Ground, where the infamous Battle of Tippecanoe occurred. A woman trying to put her life back together soon found herself disturbed by inexplicable events in a Fountain County apartment. Roads in Newton, Clinton, and Grant counties are but a few such roads where strange things suddenly appear--and often just as quickly disappear. The Rotary Jail Museum in Crawfordsville is said to have a pair of resident spirits. Purdue University and Indiana Beach harbor their own eerie tales. Join authors and paranormal investigators W.C. Madden and Maria Salvo Benson on a spine-tingling journey of the haunts of North Central Indiana.

Located in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Pottawattamie Squirrel Cage Jail is a National Register of Historic Places landmark. Erected in 1885, it is one of only three rotary jails still in existence today. In Squirrel Cage Jail, author S. M. Senden relates the history of the iconic Squirrel Cage jail, from its construction and operation to its closing in 1969 and subsequent purchase by the Council Bluffs park board for preservation in 1971. According to Senden, preservation wasn't easy and was ultimately buoyed by a fundraising effort led by the local historical society. Senden also highlights local criminals as well as some of the jail's more infamous prisoners and shares local folklore relating to the jail's reputation for being haunted. She says, "I hope readers will be spellbound by one of the most fascinating and haunting places in Iowa." Squirrel Cage Jail is available for purchase online at Amazon.

Gunslingers, gamblers and outlaws vastly outnumbered sheriffs and marshals in the cattle towns of the Kansas frontier. Famous lawmen, such as Charlie Bassett, Wild Bill Hickok and Tom Smith, kept the peace by sheer force of personality and the integrity of the local lockup. The story of the state's settlement can be tracked in the fascinating development of these bastions of prairie justice. Makeshift jails of earlier times were replaced by limestone, brick and concrete structures with iron cells and elaborate locking systems. From the squirrel cage of Wichita to the iron jail of Lawrence City, tour these early Kansas prisons with author Gerald Bayens.