Old Iron County Jail -- Hurley WI
N 46° 26.860 W 090° 10.981
15T E 716355 N 5147644
The old iron lattice-work 2-cell jail outside of the old Iron County WI courthouse (now a history museum) must have been a little slice of hell in the winter, and summer too.
Waymark Code: WMG8QW
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 01/29/2013
Views: 6
At 303 Iron St near downtown Hurley WI, the old Iron Co. courthouse retains a cruel relic of the 19th century American criminal justice system.
A two-cell iron lattice-work jail sits in what is now the parking lot for the Iron County History Museum. The jail's two cells have a open floor, with iron lattice-work on the sides and on the ceiling. Such a design ensured that anyone incarderated in them would be fully exposed to snow, heat, bugs, rats -- all the comforts of the outdoors, with none of the freedom.
Adding to the misery of confinement here: the prisoners were exposed to the full view of all passers-by, and probably got a full measure of community opprobrium to go with their sentences.
By all accounts, 19th and earlyto-mid 20th century Hurley WI was a rough and lawless place, with too many miners and more than enough saloons, whorehouses, and gambling dens to entertain them.
From the bloggig website "Anatomy of A Wrongful Conviction" comes this early history of Hurley WI: (the link is disabled as of 2014)
"Established in the late 1800's, Hurley, started life as a thriving logging and iron mining community in the north woods of Wisconsin. Hurley became famous for its reputation as a place where "anything goes" in this wild outpost notorious for its gambling dens, speak-easies, bordellos and saloons. The railroad made Hurley boom in 1885 by connecting it with Ashland, Wisconsin, and its ore docks. The tracks ran right behind the north side of Silver Street.
"Throughout the Middle West, wherever lumberjacks and miners congregated, Hurley was known as the hell-hole of the range," stated Michigan: A Guide to the Wolverine State, the 1941 W.P.A. guide. "Even Seney, at its worst and liveliest, could not compete with the sin, suffering, and saloons that gave Hurley a reputation unrivaled from Detroit to Duluth.
It's reputation gave way to a famous saying in Wisconsin, "The three worst places you could ever find yourself to be was either Hayward, Hurley, or Hell"
For those imprisoned in this awful iron jail, we are sure they thought Hurley WAS Hell.
Type of Device: iron lattice jail
What is the approximate age?: 01/01/1890
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Associated Website: [Web Link]
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