By appointment only.
Unusual “squirrel cage” jail, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, also serves as a visitors information center in Gallatin, Mo.
The Daviess County Squirrel Cage Jail was completed in 1889. Its unique architectural design provided answers to concerns about prisoner security, worries about both prisoners breaking out and accomplices breaking in. It is an octagonal-shaped rotary jail with a rotating deck divided into individual jail cells spinning on a single axis inside a perimeter of stationary bars.
Eighteen rotary jails are known to have been constructed, all variations of the patented design by the Pauley Jail Building & Mfg. Company of St. Louis. Only three still stand today as visual markers of yesteryear.
Learn more about our special jail by clicking here.