Old Jail Museum ~ Vienna, MO
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member YoSam.
N 38° 11.169 W 091° 56.760
15S E 592305 N 4226993
They claim you can hear the anguished cries of long gone prisoners.
Waymark Code: WM71V2
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 08/20/2009
Published By:Groundspeak Regular Member MikeGolfJ3
Views: 4

Plaque Text:

OLD JAIL
VIENNA, MISSOURI

Purchased during the year of its centennial in 1955 by Carl and Madolyn Baldwin, Tom Coffey, Paul and Inez Hollenbeck, Cecil and Juanita Hutchison for the preservation of this significant historical structure for the people of Maries County.


Some Maries County History:
MARIES COUNTY

Maries County, in the central Ozarks of Missouri, was organized in 1855 and named for the Big and Little Maries Rivers. The area, in territory ceded by Osage Indians in 1808, was roamed by French trappers who early named the Gasconade, Bourbeuse, and Maries, the county's rivers. Pioneers from the South and other parts of Missouri came in the 1820's, and in the 1850's brought a large German immigration and a number of Irish.


Vienna, the county seat, was laid out on the watershed divide between the Osage and Gasconade in 1855 by Reuben Terrill on 70 acres donated by William Shockley. The town is said to be named Vienna as a compromise resulting from county Judge V.G. Latham's wanting it named "Vie Anna" in memory of a relative. The courthouse, the county's third, was built in 1943.


In Vienna are the Old Jail and Felker Log House Museums of pioneer relics. The gable-roofed, limestone jail was built in 1858, by a Mr. Barnhart at the cost of $2,500. The Felker Log House, built 1855 by John Felker, native of Hanover, Germany, was moved near the jail in 1959.

Maries County, encompassing 526 square miles of wooded hills, fertile valley, and tableland prairies, lies in a general farming area. In the Civil War, the county saw little action, but Vienna was occupied as a minor Union post. After the was, lead was mined briefly in the 1870's and zinc in the 1880's.


Belle, the county's largest town, grew up along the route of the Chicago, Rock Is., & Pac. R.R., built through a small portion of north Maries County, 1904. Among other communities are High Gate, Safe, Hayden, Brinktown, and Vichy, laid out 1880 near mineral spring, an early noted health spa.


Prehistoric Indian mounds and artifacts have been found along the county's rivers, and an ancient Indian trail in the county later became a road between St. Louis and Springfield. In the 1820's, Shawnee and Delaware Indians had a village at Indian Ford on the Gasconade River. An Indian pictograph of a deer remains on a bluff above the Gasconade near Paydown Spring. The spring, with a measured 11,600,000 gals. daily flow from several gravel beds, is the site of early grist mills and a wooden mill.

Theme:
Admission $3.00 adults, 12 years & under free.
Admission includes tour of all four buildings in the Museum Complex.
The Old Jail Museum, Felker House, Latham House, and the Maries County Building are maintained and staffed by volunteers from the Historical Society of Maries County, Box 289, Vienna, MO 65582.

The Society also welcomes you to their research and Old Records room in the Maries County Courthouse in Vienna. This room is free and open to the public every Wednesday afternoon from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Old County records are located here as well as modern volumes to research. All the Society's publications can be purchased here and volunteer workers are on hand to help you as much as possible. The Society also publishes a 20-page news-quarterly with a wide variety of materials on the people and places of Maries County.



Street Address:
E. 5th St. & N. Mill St.,
MO-42 (3 blks. from US-63)
Vienna, MO 65582


Hours of Operation:
These hours posted in window of museum. Web site has different information.

May 27...................2p.m. to 4p.m.
June 3, 10, 17, 24.......2p.m. to 4p.m.
Closed July and August
Sept. 1 (Parade Day).....9a.m. to 11a.m.
Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30...2p.m. to 4p.m.
Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28.......2p.m. to 4p.m.

Those wishing to tour outside these dates may contact Sharon Wulff (422-3679) and we'll try to make arrangements.



Cost: 3.00 (listed in local currency)

Museum Size: Medium

Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

Food Court: Not Listed

Gift Shop: Not Listed

Visit Instructions:
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BruceS visited Old Jail Museum ~ Vienna, MO 09/28/2011 BruceS visited it