Tekonsha Village Jail - Michigan Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

From the State Historic Preservation Office website:

Narrative Description:
The Tekonsha Village Jail, built in 1877, is a twelve-by-fourteen-foot structure set on a cement slab foundation. The gable-front roof has been replaced with wooden shingles similar to the original. The building was built with locally grown pine, white wood, basswood and oak. The exterior siding is one-by-ten-inch vertical pine board with one-by-two-inch batten. Floor joists are full cut two-by-sixes anchored at each corner by a large, flat topped rock found intact and left in place when the building was moved back to its original site in 1984. The front elevation has a offset door to the left of the only window on the structure. Cut two-by-fours, set horizontally, form the walls by interlocking with the corners, one end on top of the adjoining end. Over the years, the interior of the building had been almost entirely gutted when it was used as a work shop, granary, hen house or children's playhouse. When returned to the original site in 1984, a new floor, jail cells, beds and stove were installed according to recollections of elderly Tekonsha residents.

Statement of Significance:
In the early 1870s, the new Michigan Central "Airline" railroad between Jackson and Niles, came through Tekonsha. Shortly after the railroad's arrival, Tekonsha began seeing not only homeless men, hoboes, and tramps, but also traveling salesmen, peddlers, hucksters, patent medicine salesmen, sewing machine repairmen, shear sharpeners and endless other "door knockers." Residents began complaining and in 1877 the newly formed village council provided a village jail. It was an overnight jail where the local deputy sheriff, constable, and justice of the peace would have a place for detainment until the next day when the offender could be put on the next out-bound train or could be taken to Marshall, the county seat, ten miles away. The twelve-by-fourteen-foot jail, finished in 1878, cost $18 for labor and $144 for materials, and furnishings. During the early 1900s, the jail's operation and use changed. At the time, another small Michigan village jail caught fire and killed an incarcerated, but unguarded inmate. The Michigan legislature decreed that "if you are going to lock them up, you must have a guard on duty at all times." This was very expensive and inconvenient so from then on incarceration became less and less prevalent. The advent of the automobile and better roads permitted the immediate transfer of violators to the county seat and sheriff. The village jail thus became out of date by about 1910 and became a hostel used by transients, off-train tramps and hoboes. It stayed as such through the 1920s and 1930s until in 1939 the village council determined the structure was no longer needed and therefore sold it at an auction for $25.36. It was moved from its original site to many various rural locations under several different owners in the Tekonsha area. It was recognized in 1984 outside of the village just before the structure was to have been demolished. It was saved and procured and moved back into the village onto its original site.

Historical Date: 01/01/1877 Parking nearby?: yes D/T ratings: Registered Site #: Local Site #1912 Historical Name: Not listed Description: Not listed website: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/18/2023 bobfrapples8 visited it 07/27/2016 just for the fun visited it 08/06/2015 DnRseekers visited it 05/05/2015 Historic Markers visited it

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