The Jail was built in 1885 and was in continuous use until 1969.  The design and size of the Historic Pottawattamie County Squirrel Cage Jail make it a one-of-a-kind structure.  It was one of 18 revolving (“squirrel cage”, "human rotary", or "lazy Susan") jails built.  It is the only three-story one ever made.   Built at a cost of about $30,000, our unique jail has three floors of revolving pie-shaped cells inside a cage.  The front part of the building had offices for the jailer, kitchen, trustee cells, and quarters for women.

A patent issued on July 12, 1881, declared, "The object of our invention is to produce a jail in which prisoners can be controlled without the necessity of personal contact between them and the jailer."  It was to provide "maximum security with minimum jailer attention."  As one deputy put it, "If a jailer could count ... and he had a trusty he could trust ... he could control the jail".

The cell section remains much as it did in 1969 when it was closed by the county.  The signatures and dates of many of its' infamous prisoners remain scratched in the cell walls. It remains a well restored snapshot of an interesting era of our society.Today, only 3 revolving jails remain:  a one-story structure in Gallatin, Missouri; a two-story jail in Crawfordsville, Indiana; and the unique three-story jail here.  All three are preserved as museums. 

The Squirrel Cage Jail provides students and adults the opportunity to experience first-hand a unique piece of cultural and architectural history and to gain an understanding of this building’s unique place in cultural and national history.  Its one-of-a-kind structure is unlikely to be duplicated again.

The Squirrel Cagel Jail is an Official Museum of the Iowa State Sheriffs' and Deputies' Association.

Paying a vist to the Squirrel Cage Jail?  While you're here visit another great museum just a few blocks away!

If it wasn't for Grenville Dodge, the Omaha/Council Bluffs would be different.  A whole lot different.  Some have speculated our combined population might be around 15,000 rather approaching a million.

It was all about the railroads, and it it wasn't for Dodge they wouldn't have come here to the extent they did.  Some was intentional, some fortuitous, but it doesn't really matter: the railroads came.

By the late 1860′s Grenville M. Dodge was not only a nationally known and respected military general, railroad builder, and politician, he was one of the wealthiest citizens of Iowa.

Today, his elegant 1869 mansion has been meticulously restored and is open for tours and is just a few blocks from the Squirrel Cage Jail Museum.  The Historic General Dodge House is at 605 South 3rd Street.

December 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021, the Dodge House will be open for normal tours Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Additional hours include Thursday evenings until 8:00 pm and Sundays, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

The House will close at 3:00 pm on December 24, 2021, and will reopen on December 26, 2021 at 1:00 pm.