Moore County Jail Museum

I noticed that this Blogger site has set up a whole new function.

If you click on one of the pictures it will not only enlarge the picture but also take you to a slide show of all the pictures in the blog entry.  Very cool stuff............

One day last week LC and I explored the Moore County Jail Museum in Lynchburg Tennessee.

It was the town's active jail from 1893 all the way through until (surprisingly) 1990.

It is nothing more than an old and historic home with two rooms that have been converted to cells for female inmates downstairs and at the back of the house, and one section of the upstairs converted to two cells for male prisoners.

The cells are small and start and secure.

The curator of the museum told LC and I a couple of interesting things:

1.  That the first Sheriff of the county held that position for eight years and then his wife was elected Sheriff (at which time he was confirmed as one of her deputies)

2.  The Sheriff and his (or her) family lived in the home while the home also housed the inmates

3.  If one of the inmates was known to be a good cook he/her would cook for the other inmates and the family.

If none of the inmates could cook the lady of the house (typically the Sheriff's wife) cooked for both the family and the prisoners.

The museum tour was self-guided and LC and I wandered in and out of rooms and cells enjoying both the pictures of all the Sheriff's in Moore County since 1893 as well as old household objects.

And then LC talked for a long while with the curator who was a retired officer out of both Moore and Coffee County.

Not a bad time for a whole dollar each.................

Information from the handout I picked up at the door:

When Moore County was formed in 1872, one of the major tasks facing the newly elected Moore County government was finding quarters for the fledgling government bodies.  The county officials set up shop in churches, store buildings and houses acquired by the new county, but i was obvious that special accommodations had to be made for the housing of prisoners.  And so a jail was the first building to be designed and built especially for Moore County.................... 

The first jail used by Moore County was the Lynchburg Town Lock-up or Calaboose.  This building was a fairly basic facility being built of oak planks, but it is said to have been secure.  The heavy seasoned oak walls had nails driven at close intervals to discourage the use of axes or other cutting tools.  There is, however, a newspaper account of Sheriff Norman (1st Sheriff) discovering the wooden latch being nearly cut in two by a pair of would be escapees while the county was using this facility.  While this building was satisfactory for housing drunks and others for a day or so and was not intended for the use that a larger law enforcement agency required.

During this time, violent crime was fairly common in Moore County, and a full fledged jail was needed.  This was recognized, and the County Court appointed a committee to begin the work of acquiring a jail............

In 1893 the County Court appointed a Jail Construction Committee to acquire a lot on Main Street from W.W. Holt for $650,000 and enter into a contract with the Pauley Jail and Manufacturing Company of St Louis MO, to construct a jail and Sheriff's residence there. 

The report of the Jail Committee dated October 30 1893 states that the work was complete and satisfactory on that date, and warrants were delivered by the contractor on November 25 1893 for a total of $5,946.32 to be paid over four years.  A special Jail Tax of .20 cents per $100,000 evaluation of property was assessed for the year 1893 to cover the expected cost of construction...............

This facility operated until construction was completed on the new Moore County Jail in June 1990.

Moore County Historical and Genealogical Society obtained the old jail building in 1990 when the new jail facility was completed.

It opened as a museum in 1991 and is listed on the National Registry of Historical places.  Repairs and restoration continue today...............

Female cells.............

And family living quarters...........

There were two stair cases in the home.

The stairs in back of the house led up to the male cells.

The stairs near the front of the house led up to resident bedrooms................

Below the "No Prisoners Or Trustees" sign was an original news clipping telling of the sinking of the Titanic............

Two entire boards filled with law enforcement patches from across the country as well as from other countries.

These were collected from officers who mailed patches from their respective departments after visiting the museum and then returning to their homes.

I find museums interesting in small doses and this little place in this little town was a lot of fun to wander around

It is only open from mid-March through mid-December and I was glad that LC and I had a chance to enjoy it before Winter.............