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The Living Quarters of the Clark Co., WI Jail
Museum
| Neillsville's
first jail was built in 1866 and its second in 1881. In 1897 a
third and more substantial jail was built and housed beautiful living
quarter for the sheriff and his family. The total construction cost
was $15,000 and over 209 cords of brick were used. The LaCrosse
architecture firm of Stozle & Schick were the designers. The
castle-like structure, with its turrets, juts up three stories and is
one of the most unique in the state with its fortress-like
architecture. This formidable Clark County jail was place on the
National and State Historic Register in 1978 and is operated by the
Clark County Historical Society. Upon arriving as a guest--and
not as a prisoner--you will enter a lovely two-story Victorian home.
The sheriff's living quarters consists of 11 rooms. The first floor
includes a parlor complete with a fireplace, sheriff's office, a
beautiful Victorian staircase, and a large kitchen area (the sheriff's
wife also prepared meals for the prisoners). The upper floor includes
a child's room, the Listeman bedroom with a carved bed, an old photo
room, and a jewelry store. All rooms are furnished with period pieces. |
In the early
1900's Sheriff Robert Eunson occupied the residence with his second wife,
Jessie, and his two children, Dale and Genevieve. When Robert Eunson's
term as sheriff expired, he packed up his family and moved to Montana to
claim a homestead. His son, Dale, went on to become a well-known writer
and dramatist. His non-fiction story entitled, "The Day They Gave
Babies Away" was written in 1946 and has become a modern classic. It
is the only story ever to have been published three times in one magazine,
Cosmopolitan, and it has been dramatized on radio and television.
In many of his other writings, Dale refers to his childhood memories of
Neillsville, and when his father was sheriff of Clark County. |