Montgomery County Jail and Sheriff's Residence - Crawfordsville, IN
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 40° 02.631 W 086° 54.095
16T E 508395 N 4432628
The Old Jail was built in 1882. It was the first of seven rotary jails constructed in the United States and is currently the only rotary jail in operating condition.
Waymark Code: WM1PVD
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 06/18/2007
Views: 128
The Old Jail was built in 1882. It was the first of seven rotary jails constructed in the United States and is currently the only rotary jail in operating condition.
The rotary cellblock consists of a two-tiered turntable divided into pie-shaped wedges, with a total of 16 cells. The turntable is housed within a stationary steel cage with one opening per story.
The jailer would simply rotate the mechanism to bring a particular cell to the opening, and in this way, prisoners were put into and let out of the cells. The turntable remained in operation until 1939.
The jail was used as the Montgomery County Jail until it closed in 1973 and became a museum in 1975, operated by the Montgomery County Cultural Foundation. The museum exhibits items related to the history, culture and art of Montgomery County as well as artifacts from the jail itself.