Gallatin’s famous oddity, the Squirrel Cage Jail, is being evaluated for its national significance and level of historic integrity, according to Rachel Franklin-Weekley, Ph.D, Architectural Historian with the National Park Service out of Omaha, Neb.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
Cydney Millstein and Mary Ann Warfield were in Gallatin Monday, Nov. 30, to complete research on the Rotary Jail for the Secretary of the Interior/National Park Service.
Cydney is owner/founder of Architectural and Historical Research, LLC, out of Kansas City. Her firm was chosen to prepare a Multiple Property Submission (MPS). Mary Ann, a free lance researcher/historian, is sub contractor on the project.
The Multiple Property Submission will provide information about the Gallatin jail and other rotary jails still in existence, their place in U.S. history (context), physical characteristics, historic
features, and condition. That information is needed before it can be determined if the Gallatin jail is eligible for nomination as a National Historic Landmark (NHL). Nomination as an NHL is a next step that the park service is not ready to undertake at this time.
There are 18 rotary jails across the United States, Cydney said, but Gallatin is one of only three of such jails that still have the rotary mechanism intact.
The other two jails are in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Pottawanami County, and Crawfordsville, Ind., Montgomery County. The three jails represent one-two-and three story jails and are being researched together for the Multiple Property Submission.
Cydney and Mary Ann have already completed research on the other two jails. And a great deal of research is already complete on the Gallatin jail. Cydney did the registration for the Gallatin jail 25 years ago to have it placed on the National Register of Historic Places, which recognized the jail’s local and state significance.
To recall a little history, the original squirrel cage was dismantled in 1964 for safety; the jail was closed in 1975. Then the jail went through a renovation of the sheriff’s residence and reconstruction of the hand-cranked rotary mechanism.
"We’re going through those records that have been located recently," Cydney said. "The first time I visited the jail, the rotary mechanics had not yet been rebuilt. It’s a totally different configuration from when I was here 25 years ago. We’ll be finding out about the later reconstructive work done on the jail."
Cydney has been doing historical research for 30 years and Mary Ann has been freelancing for 10 years. Their research contract for the jails is for 18 months.