1873 County Jail
Historical Plaza Walking Tour Stop 10
During Ellsworth's earliest years, Wild Bill Hickok's common-law wife, Indian Annie, lived in a shack near this site. After Hickok abandoned Indian Annie, she made ends meet washing clothes, scrubbing floors at the Grand Central Hotel (9) and reading fortune cards.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Hickok once helped Sheriff Kingsbury and Township Constable Whitney tie offending drunken troublemakers to fence posts to cool off before the jail was built. This was the first building in Ellsworth erected for the purpose of holding prisoners.
The first prisoner, J.M. Gruder, escaped. The Ellsworth Reporter announced, "The sheriff is not at all to blame as the building is not full ready for prisoners." It was said that the new jail was the most comfortable place in town, but that not too many should crowd into the place at once.
Marker is on Court Avenue near 1st Street, on the left when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
