KINGMAN – The Mohave County Historical Society is welcoming information and donations as it advances its Historic Jail Preservation Project in downtown Kingman.
The organization secured a lease of the property from Mohave County in Jan., 2023 with a goal of restoring and reopening the two-story building as a showcase for local history, much like the Mohave Museum and Bonelli House.
Historical Society Director Leah Stagg said jail construction that commenced in 1909 was completed in 1910. She said that the facility was in the community forefront long before, and then during decades of operation before closing in 1968.
“It’s been interesting to see in the community how this was a very important building to go up. It was a big deal,” Stagg said. “We actually have a lot of evidence in the newspaper at the time, in the Miner, for the whole process of gathering bids and the opening of it. We see it in the decades before as well with the calls for the need for a new jail. And that goes hand in hand with the call for a new courthouse.”
The Historical Society is asking the public to preserve and document any jail-related experience they might possess, everything from memories and pictures to heirlooms and documents. They hope to collect, preserve and display an historical collection through people with family members who worked in law enforcement or had other connections to the jail.
Mohave County Facilities Manager Butch Finkbeiner said a Brownsfield Grant secured through the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality provided funding for mitigation necessary to allow public tours of the yet to be renovated jail in the future.
Phoenix based Spray Systems and One Atlas conducted tasks associated with eliminating risk from lead-based paint within the interior of the jail.
Stagg said the process of remodeling the jail will likely unpeel its various layers of history.
“One of the most exciting things for me, as a historian, was to come in and see how much of it was still intact, especially upstairs where those cells are in essence a time capsule,” Stagg said. “The upstairs cell area will be restored at different eras in the jail’s history and the main floor will be where our office will be, and the gift shop and the back area where we’ll have hands-on exhibits that will tell the larger story of law and order in Mohave County.”
Drawings and messages scrawled by inmates decorate space behind bars they once occupied. Expressions of loneliness and love, and of contempt for confinement can be found scribbled into the walls where bunks are still secured within the jail cells.
“Eleanor Willsey Chicago Illinois I love you so very much,” one inmate professed. “I doute (sic) if you will love me at all.”
And there are lifestyle references, including musical preferences.
“The Rolling Stones Suck. Beatles 4 Ever,” another inmate memorialized.
It was a building, and a warmer second floor no doubt, without the comfort of swamp cooling or air conditioning.
“There was still a lot of circulation in this tiny building. Would it have been miserable? Absolutely, but there was at least some thought process to … at least somewhat mitigate the heat,” said Stagg.
The Historical Society is pursuing grants to help fund the restoration campaign. Citizens and businesses are welcome to donate money or in-kind services to the project.
“We really need the community involvement because this is really dependent on the money we can generate in terms of how quickly we can finish this project,” Stagg said. “We would appreciate any kind of contribution. We want the community to feel a part of the process. We’ll be doing fundraising.’’
Historic Jail t-shirt sales at the Museum are part of the campaign.
Anyone wishing to donate resources or historical memorabilia can reach Stagg at 928-753-3195 or by email at artifacts@mohavemuseum.org.
Dave Hawkins
