Looking for Old Jail photos

Andrea Evangelist, Executive Director of the Wayne County Museum, is looking for pictures of the old County Jail to borrow for a presentation that she is developing on the jail's colorful history. The Museum is located in the former jail and Sheriff's residence on Butternut St., Lyons.

The jail, built in 1854, was used to house criminals until 1960, when it was turned over to the Wayne County Historical Society to be used as the Wayne County Museum. Attached to the front of the former penal structure, is a brick Italianate house where numerous sheriffs and their families lived in the more-than one hundred year span.

Evangelist is looking for pictures that were taken inside or outside the home or jail, pictures of prisoners, and/or pictures of the various sheriffs who were in office during the years that the jail was serving its intended purpose.

'We have so few pictures that were taken inside the prison and have none of life inside the sheriff's home,' Evangelist says. 'It's a gap in the jail history that I would like to fill.'

The Society is also collecting 'jail stories.'

'We often are visited by former prisoners who come to tour the museum and share their tales of life in a 4x9 foot cell,' Evangelist says. 'The stories are what brings the jail history alive, and we want to collect more of them,' she said.

The name of the person who shares his/her story would be kept confidential.

If anyone has any pictures or 'jail stories,' call 946.4943, Tuesday-Friday, 10-4.

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