Deer Lodge County Jail - Anaconda, MT
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 46° 07.385 W 112° 57.273
12T E 348991 N 5109580
This is the original county jail/police department building in Anaconda. This old jail was completed in February of 1900, shortly after the county seat was moved to Anaconda.
Waymark Code: WMMN1W
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 10/12/2014
Views: 1
Though this is the old jail, it is still used to some extent by the present county police, though we're not certain for what. The Deer Lodge county seat was originally in Deer Lodge, but when Anaconda surpassed Deer Lodge in both population and economic importance, a successful plebiscite had the county seat moved to Anaconda in 1897. Plans immediately were put in motion to build a new county courthouse and jail. The jail, completed in 1900, was built immediately east of the courthouse. The contractor for the building was J. P. Dolan, of the firm of Dolan and Hamill. The architect is unknown.
Many years later the city police, housed in the city hall since 1895, moved into the county jail building. Many more years later a new County Law Enforcement Center was built adjacent to this building. Solidly built of local brick, stone and concrete, this building's basement contained a Cold War era fallout shelter, the sign for which is still mounted on the front wall of the building.