Allen County Jail

The Old Allen County Jail is a former jail in Iola, Kansas, United States. Built in the late 1860s, it operated as a detention facility for nearly a century before a replacement opened; today, it is the Old Jail Museum, operated by the Allen County Historical Society, and it has been designated a historic site.StructureThe jail is a stone rubble masonry structure, two stories tall and constructed of large blocks of limestone. Its walls are approximately thick. As originally designed, the jail contained living space for the jailer on the second story and prison space on the first story; the cells were built of steel bars and placed on the solid stone floor. The facade includes two second-story windows and a central door on the first story. Although it was called the finest jail in southeastern Kansas at the time of its completion, it was never secure; over the course of its history, many prisoners escaped by removing bars from windows or cutting holes in the roof.Early historyAs a result of disputes between residents of different areas of the county, Allen County lacked a jail for its initial years. The situation was resolved in 1868 after voters approved a $10,000 bond for the erection of a jail in Iola. Under the direction of the local contractors White and Hays, the building was finished in October of the following year at a price of $8,400; it was the first public building to be erected by the county government. Due to its reputation as the region's best jail, two other southeastern Kansas counties contracted with Allen County to use the structure for their own prisoners during the 1870s.