Jefferson City Corrections Sites Endangered
The former state penitentiary in Jefferson City has been listed as endangered by the Missouri Alliance for Historical Preservation. News from KOMU.
The penitentiary dates back to 1836 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. The preservtion group says, due to a lack of state funding for maintenance, it is at risk of being lost. Many buildings on the complex have already been demolished and in March, the city received a grant to demolish more.
The penitentiary, older than Alcatraz, was the official state prison until 2004. It has held such notable inmates as James Earl Ray, members of Jesse James’s gang, and the Reno Gang, which perpetrated the first recorded train robbery in American history.
Other mid-Missouri sites on the list include the Cole County Jail and Sheriff’s Office and the Chariton County Jail and Sheriff’s residence.
Missouri Preservation is a non-profit organization that promotes historic preservation activities throughout the state and annually releases a list of endangered historical sites. The Alliance has been active since 1976 and has been publishing the annual list of endangered historical sites since 2000.
Uncategorized