The old Cole County Jail occupied the corner of East McCarty and Monroe streets for 140 years and was recognized as one of the oldest remaining jailhouses west of the Mississippi River. When it was built in 1842, Jefferson City was only 17 years old. Its demise in 1982 caused a shock wave of stunned disbelief and disappointment among residents who, to this day, are saddened by its loss.
What lessons can be learned from that tragic loss?
"It was largely a lack of organization," said Patrick Steele, who was the director of the Missouri Heritage Trust at the time. He led the effort of a loosely organized but passionate group of historic preservationists that included Elizabeth Rozier, Dick and Mary Ann Caplinger, Joseph Summers and Carolyn McDowell.
The old jail built in 1842 first served as the Cole County Jail. It was comprised of two rooms on the upper level; one was a debtor's prison and the other was for criminals and two rooms on the first floor. The county sold the jail to the city, where later it was the site of public lynchings, the last of which was in 1907 of three men found guilty of murder. Constructed of cut limestone with 2-foot-deep walls, it stood solid and strong, a testament to the quality and permanence with which our early German residents built things.
The city fathers began planning a new police department in the late 1970s. McDowell, who was on the City Council at that time, recalls, "There were three options for the old jail: one had the jail incorporated into the new PD; another had the old jail adjacent and separate but preserved as a cultural center or museum; the third option was to demolish it." The construction of the new police department commenced in 1980, keeping all the options on the table being built around the old jail.
City Council meeting minutes from December 1980 show the Cole County Historical Society proposed grant money to restore and preserve the old jail. A resolution was passed stating the city's commitment to preserving the jail. The following February, there were lengthy discussions with representatives from the CCHS and the Department of Natural Resources. A plan again was put forth offering grant money from the National Historic Preservation Fund. Again, the council took no action. The issue was not mentioned again until December 1981, when Steele presented his proposal of a lease agreement with the city involving funds from the MHT and up to $25,000 in private pledges for renovations. They envisioned a city museum and visitor's center in the old jail.
To this day, Jefferson City does not have a city museum. When the issue was taken up again Feb. 1, 1982, Steele repeated the offer. As the hour was late, he and the other preservationists present at that meeting left before the final vote was taken.
"I felt very confident that we had succeeded," Mary Ann Caplinger recalled.
Steele added, "But just in case we had not succeeded, we had a contingency plan in place. Our attorney would file a stop-order injunction the morning after the council vote, if necessary."
That next morning, on Feb. 2, 1982, Mary Ann and other historic preservationists happened to be across the street at the Top of Round restaurant. With utter shock and dismay, they witnessed the bulldozers that had started at the break of dawn and, in a matter of minutes, had knocked the building down in a cloud of dust. "I will never forget the betrayal I felt as I watched," Mary Ann lamented.
Steele agreed, "Disappointment would be an understatement."
The City Council had voted at 10:30 p.m. the previous evening. The vote was 5-4 against the lease agreement. Opponents argued the old jail blocked the view of the new jail. Since the demolition took place a mere nine hours after the vote, questions still swirl around in the brick dust: How were the bulldozers poised for action so quickly after the vote?
The city maintained the jail either had to be moved or be torn down. The was a false premise, according to Dick Caplinger. "It never should have been an either/or option. We could have had both," he added.
As Steele summed it up, "The city officials just did not understand the treasure they had."
A lesson learned from this ordeal was that the preservationists needed some organizational structure. So, in 1983, out of the rubble of the old historic County Jail, the Historic City of Jefferson was born. With public awareness and education, it is no longer presumed "new is better," and in fact, historic preservation and economic development can co-exist and complement one another.
Patrick Steele, Carolyn McDowell, the late Elizabeth Rozier, and the late Dick and Mary Caplinger were interviewed for this article in 2010. Jenny Smith is a retired chemist with the MSHP Crime Laboratory and former editor of Historic City of Jefferson's "Yesterday and Today" newsletter.