Historic jail, residence commemorated Saturday afternoon the former Jewell County jail and sheriff's residence building was recognized with a memorial plaque presentation and open house. Family members representing a former Jewell County Sheriff, the late Charles R. "Jock" Murray, presented the bronze plaque with information about the building and it's origins, along with a list of Jewell County sheriffs who worked and resided in the building. The plaque was donated in memory of Jock Murray. He served his home county as sheriff from 1964 to 1970 and then went on to serve 22 years as an agent for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The plaque is located at the front entrance to the building. Making the presentation were his sons and daughters, Jim, John and Kevin Murray, Kathy Johnmeyer, and Kristy Moser. Refreshments included a decorated cake. Members of the Murray family wore commemorative T-shirts. Roger Fedde, Jewell County Historical Society president, and Karen Boden, Jewell County Museum curator, were on hand. Fedde told of the building's history. The building is now owned by the county historical society and maintained through donations, volunteer work and grants. The building is listed on the national and state registers of historic places. An open house was held to allow for tours and showed where the sheriff and his family resided. The jail cells located on both the first and second floors along the west side of the building were among the points of interest. The building was constructed on two lots purchased from John Denham for $375. The purchase was made on July 12, 1899 and the construction began within a few days. The contractor was J.W. Berry, Jewell. He went on to construct limestone buildings all over Kansas including buildings on the Kansas State University Campus. It is believed the limestone blocks used to construct the building were quarried in Jewell county and brought to Mankato with teams and wagons. The stone was cut to show the brown streaks (iron stain), which is considered to be rare. The price of the building block was by the wagon load which was about a ton. The price was $1.50. Local stonemasons did the "dressing" of the stone blocks. The architect, J.C. Holland, was well known across Kansas. He had done design work for the Girls' Industrial School at Beloit, courthouses in Topeka, Burlington, Junction City, Beloit and Clay Center. He later would plan the United Methodist Church in Burr Oak. The late Boyd Silsby helped get the building listed on the historical register. He said each limestone block has a "pillow finish." The larger smoother rocks, at the roof edge have a "hammered finish" and were individually cut to create the smooth surface. The building is doubled walled with rock on the outside and inside. The original ornate rooftop and ornamentation including stone dormers and cornices still adorn the hipped roof. The steel jail cells were bought from the Stewart Iron Works and shipped from Ohio to Jewell County. The cells are believed to be the originals and were set on concrete floors. The interior of the sheriff's residence has the original wood floors and woodwork, a dumb waiter and a mahogany open staircase. A second staircase leads to the third level of the building. The historical society has made many repairs and improvements to the building since they purchased it in 1982. The work included replacement of the roof, restoration of the ventilation belvedere on the cell block section, and restoration of the the gables and caps. Repairs have included the front porch, north steps, rear door and the outside basement entrance. The cement block addition added in 1969 and used as the dispatch office was taken off. "Peep holes" which allowed the supervision of the prisoners remain as do the prisoners' carvings. For 83 years the limestone building was used as the county jail and sheriff's residence. Sheriffs who lived and worked in the building were Myerly 1899-1904, Steichel 1904-1906, Myerly 1906-1910, Sweet 1910-1914, Henderson 1914-1918, Cole 1918-1922, Snyder 1922-1926, Smith 1926-1930, Fall 1930-1934, Roe 1934-1938, Jones 1938-1940, Switzer 1940-1944, Keeler 1944-1948, Morris 1948-1952, Zade 1952-1956, Myers 1956-1960, Stafford 1960-1962, Myers 1962-1963, Stafford 1963-1964, Murray 1964-1970, Heskett 1970-1972, Mason 1973-1975, Thomas 1975-1978. A recent Jewell County Historical Society Newsletter featured information gathered by Mrs. Boden on the jail and included told memories obtained from the family's of former residents. In 1930, the sheriff's salary was $150 a month. The sheriff also received $1 a day for each day there was a prisoner and 25 cents for each meal served to a prisoner. The sheriff was allowed mileage of 10 cents per mile. The sheriff received no extra funds for laundry or supplies required to keep the jail sanitary. A member of Sheriff Steichelman's family (1904-06) said he served for only two years because he liked his life to remain private rather then public. He carried a small pistol in his boot whenever he entered a prisoner's cell. He often supervised the prisoners through the peek hole from the kitchen. The daughter of Sheriff Jack Morris (1948-52), Karen Ross, remembers living in the jail from the third grade to the seventh grade. Marie Morris, Jack's wife, served as the under-sheriff and would prepare the prisoner's meals. Ross also remembers the peek holes used to monitor the prisoners. She remembers her mother finding a prisoner had hung himself. Francis Weaverling remembers coming to the jail to babysit the Morris girls. She was told a "frequent visitor" (a prisoner), could be counted on if she needed help. Katherine (Keeler) Grimes remembers when her served as sheriff (1944-48), there was a shortage of men willing to serve as a deputy because of WWII. So her sister served as deputy. Her main duty was that of bookkeeper. However, she did occasionally go on calls with her father. Her mother cooked for the prisoners. Pam Dunstan lived in the jail building while her step-father, Doug Thomas, was sheriff (1975-78). At Christmas, the children felt sorry for the prisoners and share their gifts with them so the prisoners would have gifts for their children. Occasionally live bats were found in the jail and "living in the jail could be scary with the prisoners upstairs near the bedrooms for the sheriff's family." Kathy Murray served as a dispatcher for her father and made friends with some of the prisoners. A tree-house was constructed in a big tree on the jail property. One prisoner tamed a squirrel named Igor. Kevin Murray has often been referred to as the "jail bird" because be was born two days after his family moved into the jail. In 1978 a district judge ordered the county discontinue using the building as a jail. It was used as a temporary holding facility until 1981. The building was closed until purchased by the historical society. The museum curator will now open the building upon appointment for tours.
Dave Pettit and Richard Diamond tour the historical Jewell County jail cells built in 1899 as part of the open house this week.
Karen Boden, Jewell County museum curator assists with activities at the registration table as Brenda Enyeart and Karen Ross signed in before touring the historical buildings.
Eli, Alyssa, and Elyse Boden, eat cake under the watchful supervision of their grandfather, Leon Boden, at the Jewell County museum open house,
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JCRC hears reports on food pantry, charity golf classic Jewell County Resource Council members met Aug. 12. Attending were Thadd Hinkle, Tessa Zehring, Amanda Anderson, Jennie Thrash, Melina Hemphill, Ken and Lila Smith, Barb Rannebeck, Jodie Beisner, Deanna Sweat, Susan Newton, Irene Brainard, Nancy Spiegel, Camey Presler, Susan Abel-Diehl, Elaine Smith and Cass Clark. It was reported the food pantry gave out 31 baskets of food in July. This helped to feed 84 people in Jewell County. Helping Hands helped with five cases in the month of July. Help was directed for transient aid, utilities and transportation. Presler reported the DVACK annual charity golf classic fund raiser on July 18 went well. Handouts were available on internet safety ideas. At the next meeting Presler will bring 100 copies of this flier for the Harmony UMC district meeting. She also reported the DVACK continues to be busy. It is hoped a safety house may be established closer to Jewell County. The child advocacy center in Concordia is open for use. Several case managers and attendant care workers and approximately 150 youth went to Rock Springs 4-H camp. It was reported applications continue to come in at an alarming rate because of the economy. This means denial rate is also increased. There will be a Senior Fair in Salina on Sept. 23. The deadline for reservations is Sept. 10. Ruth Fleming will be the representative from Jewell County. Linda Eisenhauer representing the Silver Hair Legislature will conduct a two-day meeting in late September or October about senior issues to present to the Kansas State legislature for consideration. Youth Health Day will be held Sept. 22. The seventh through ninth graders will meet all day. The tenth through twelfth grades will join in the afternoon. There will be six sessions. Topics are depression, grief, cell phone safety, seatbelt safety, narcotics, and team building. Amanda Anderson has 26 families and 32 youngsters enrolled in Parents as Teachers. She moved into her new office, which was the former Head Start office. Children ages three and four will not be receiving help at this time because of the closure of the Head Start program. The Parents as Teachers program could expand to serve this age group if funding was available. Next meeting is Sept. 9 at 11:30 am.
Vandals drive through milo field Roger Oplinger reported to the Jewell County Sheriff's Department, that one of his milo fields was damaged when a small vehicle was driven in and out of the field in three places causing considerable damage to the milo. The vandalism is thought to have occurred around Aug. 27. The field is located three miles east of the Randall turn off and one mile north on county road 280. The sheriff's office is asking for help in solving this incident. Those people with information about this crime are asked to call the Jewell County Crime Stoppers at 866-641-9100. Calls will be confidential and anonymous. Cash rewards are available for information that leads to an arrest. Calls may be made 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Lack of funding delays leadership class Jewell County Community Development group met Aug. 21 with Jim Dooley, Fawna Barrett, Brian Shulda and Martha Matthews present. It was reported the Benjamin Musser Estate Trust denied the group's grant request. Kansas Pride Program asked the development group to support their organization with a donation. It was decided not to do so at this time. Susan Nickerson, a representative of the state commerce department had sent an e-mail notice about the availability of a state set-aside grant, however, the notice was received approximately 10 days before it was due. As funding was not available for a leadership class, it was decided to defer the class until next year. Martha Matthews will meet with Lyle Peterson, a commerce department representative, on Wednesday. The coordinator reported there was not sufficient interest for an AARP Drivers Class. Career Day for Jewell County high school students being planned for Sept. 22. A GIS class will be held at the North Central Kansas Technical College. Possible ways the four-county area may utilize the class will be discussed. Matthews will attend the Kansas Wind Energy Conference in Topeka in September and will soon begin work preparing a grant request for the Esbon fire station. She has also visited with several people whose homes and businesses had been impacted by the tornado regarding disaster funding. Discussion was held concerning the revision of the by-laws. Barrett recommended changes. Jim Dooley will read the by-laws and revisions and make recommendations at the next meeting. Further discussion was held concerning Community Wind Farms and the possibility that there may be manufacturers who would be interested in satellite facilities in Jewell County.
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