The efforts of a family preserved a bit of St. Joseph’s past.

Margaret Ellsworth saved a piece of marble her grandmother gave her more than 50 years ago. The marble is the cornerstone from Buchanan County’s 1860 jail and it has a tale.

When the county government was moved from Sparta to St. Joseph, citizens paid for a new courthouse and covered the cost of a brick jail. The jail burned in 1850, and a temporary jail replaced it for nine years. The county decided to build an improved structure because the population was growing.

In those days, the county’s chief officers weren’t called commissioners. They were called judges, and Buchanan County had three. The presiding judge was James A. Anthony, who served with John J. Pullins and Cornelius Roberts in 1856 and 1857. Mrs. Ellsworth said she thinks she might be related to Mr. Roberts. The three gentlemen arranged for the construction of a new jail that wouldn’t be occupied until 1860.

The new jail was a house within a house. The outer structure was brick and stone, and the inner part contained brick and cement. Inside the inner structure were two tiers of cells, ventilated through grated doors. The cells could hold four prisoners and were heated by wood stoves.

By the beginning of the 20th century, this jail was described as a farce that grand juries had routinely condemned since 1865. One author even suggested escapes had been so numerous that local reporters didn’t consider such events to be news. In 1908, voters finally approved building a new brick jail on the northeast corner of the courthouse, and the county tore down the embarrassing jail.

Mrs. Ellsworth said she thinks her grandfather, Bill Roberts, a deputy sheriff, saved the cornerstone. His wife, Josephine Zweng Roberts, Mrs. Ellsworth’s grandmother, gave it to her. And she plans to give it to a local institution.

Each week, Property of the Past

writer Marshall White features a building or an item of St. Joseph history. If you have a home, building, special collection or an interesting piece of history, contact him

at marshall@npgco.com.