National Register Listing

Adams County Jail

a.k.a. House of History;Adams County Historical Society

1000 Benton Ave., Corning, IA

The former Adams County Jail carries twofold significance under Criterion A as representing both the historic struggle in Adams County for the courthouse location and the local struggle for law and order, having served as a county jail for 78 years--a service that spanned 20 county sheriffs. It is also significant under Criterion C as a good example of Greek Revival-derived architecture and the oldest public building in the county. The period of significance spans the years 1877-1940 while a county jail, although it continued in use as such until 1955. Built in 1877, this building evokes the lines of the first Corning Adams County Courthouse.

Corning won the courthouse struggle in 1872, beating out the town Quincy, a community doomed by its having been bypassed by the railroad. Corning contributed the land for the courthouse (see Figure 1). The jail was somewhat delayed in following. A tax levy for the jail was passed by a vote of 401 to 148 on October 1, 1974. The land was already in hand, purchased on April 20, 1870, by the county.

Three Superintendents, George C. Calkins, J. W. Larimer, and W. C. McDuffee were appointed to draw up plans and specifications and take bids and let the contract on January 11, 1877. The finished building was accepted by the unidentified contractor a year and a day later. Thomas George supplied iron (October 16, 1877) for the building and George Price filled the beds with stuffing, earning 80 cents for his trouble (January 8, 1878). There was much business awaiting the new structure, local photographer J. Proctor being paid to photograph a murder victim on January 9, 1878. Hollister Brothers provided jail and courthouse furniture (April 1, 1878). L. M. Mann provided oil and a lamp oil can (same date). The jail barn was underway at the same time, built by a number of local craftsmen, being finished by September. Irving Hazen provided the rock for the barn foundation (all June 6, 1878) and Miles Parker and J. H. Maltoren graded the jail lots. Jones and McDaniel were paid $12.00 in mid-September for "painting rods on jail." A well was dug by B. F. Lamb (paid October 16, 1878). E. Piper dressed the stone window sills of the jail.

For whatever reason, the building soon required both repair and rearrangement and the second Board of Supervisors committee presented a report to this end on September 4, 1879. A jail fund of $750 was authorized. The majority of the money went to the King Iron Bridge Company of Cincinnati, OH for cells on the second floor in 1879.

Surviving records (Figure II) trace the occupancy of the cells in the jail over its lengthy history. The second floor/basement served as the living quarters of the jailer (when the sheriff had his own residence) or the sheriff. Figure III lists the sheriffs who served during these years. The number of prisoners varied over the history of the jail. Not surprisingly, the numbers soared during poor economic times (1182-83, 1892-93, 1901-02, 1904-06, 1908) and were high for most years after 1923. H. F. Hull, sheriff for sixteen years was in that office the longest by far, followed closely by the last sheriff to occupy this building, Bryan Goodvin, who served a dozen years.

The most notable single historical event that is associated with this jail was the lynching of John W. McKenzie, a 39-year-old farmer, in 1887. McKenzie shot a neighboring farmer, whose land he rented, turning himself in at the jail on March 9, 1887. McKenzie was a reputable citizen, having served as acting deputy sheriff under Sheriff Amos Thomas three years earlier. Held for four weeks, McKenzie was lynched on April 2 by a masked and well-organized mob of 50 men. Armed men surrounded the jail as well as sheriff Burgan's residence several blocks distant. The sheriff was away in Mount Pleasant. Using a ten-foot oak battering ram, the door to the jail was broken down and jailer D. C. Pomroy was found in a front room on the upper floor provided with an iron door. The victim was then lynched under a maple tree on the courthouse lawn. The party stood by for a full hour, then calling off the men by numbers, they slowly dispersed. Mr. Harper, the night watchman was also seized near the courthouse and held. Another guard was placed over the engine house to prevent any sounding to the alarm.

A description of the building's interior layout was recorded as part of the recounting of this incident:

"the lower part of the building is used as a residence by the jailer. The front of this is covered by a wide hall opening up to the stairs, on the right side of the front door, used for reaching the upper floor where the jail proper and cells are located in the rear portion. At the head of the stairs an iron grate or lattice door is constructed, and opposite this is a room provided with an iron door on the outside in addition to the regular wooden one. In this room was sleeping Deputy Sheriff Pomroy and his wife, the better to guard the jail and prevent persons from coming up the stairs except at great risk."

The identity of the mob was never discovered and despite some twenty years of investigation on the part of the county, state and the family of the lynched man, the mystery went unsolved.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1991.