Missouri State Penitentiary

For those familiar with Jefferson City, the Missouri State Penitentiary near downtown, with its historic buildings and stone walls was an iconic landmark. The facility was featured in a History Channel series (ShowMeHistory.net contributor Mark Schreiber was interviewed and featured). The prison housed many notorious criminals and was the scene of major riots that, in the days before the internet and instant "news," captured the nation's attention.

In the 1830s, Jefferson City was still fending off challenges as the state capital. As the state was developing rival towns lobbied for this privilege. But on January 16, 1833 ¹ the general assembly passed a law providing for the acquisition of land and construction of a penitentiary house in Jefferson City; this seemed to settle the calm the activity of other towns trying to become the state capital - at least for a while.

The prison was completed March 1, 1836, consisted of one cellblock, the keeper's house, and utility buildings on was 4 acres and had a capacity of 40 inmates. The penitentiary received its first prisoner, Wilson Eidson of Greene County, on March 8, 1836. In November 1836, the warden reported to the general assembly that the penitentiary had 14 prisoners.

When the Jefferson City Correctional Center opened in September 2004, the nearly 2000 inmates were transferred from the State Penitentiary and the historic prison ceased its function of housing prisoners. Today the site of the Missouri State Penitentiary is being redeveloped and the construction of a new federal courthouse is nearing completion. The Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau conducts historic tours of the site, with Mark Schreiber as primary tour guide.

¹Early sources give the date January 16; later in the Official State Manuals of the 1960s the date is listed as January 18.

Sources

• Official Manual, State of Missouri 2005-2006. Jefferson City: Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State.
• Official Manual, State of Missouri 1963-1964. Jefferson City: Warren E. Hearnes, Secretary of State.
• Schreiber, Mark and Laura Burkhardt Moeller. Somewhere in Time: 170 Years of Missouri Corrections. Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, 2004.
• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.