About Historic Squirrel Cage Jail
The Historic Squirrel Cage Jail is a three-story Victorian lockup built around a rotating drum of prison cells. Instead of walking along a corridor to reach each cell, a jailer turned a hand crank that revolved the entire circular cage. One opening in the surrounding wall provided access, so the mechanism brought the selected cell to the guard rather than bringing the guard to the prisoner.
Council Bluffs opened the jail in 1885 as an efficient and supposedly secure answer to prisoner management. The rotary design was patented by Haugh, Ketchum and Company of Indianapolis. Its wedge-shaped cells radiated from a central shaft, producing a machine that resembled a giant lazy Susan or the exercise wheel that inspired its nickname.
The mechanism reduced the number of guards needed to supervise the block, but it also created serious dangers. Limbs could be caught between moving sections, and failures could prevent prisoners from leaving their cells. The Council Bluffs cage was eventually fixed in place, while the building continued operating as the Pottawattamie County jail until 1969.
Only a few rotary jails survive, and the Council Bluffs example is the only known three-story version still standing. The museum preserves the cell drum, jailer’s office, narrow passageways, and other features of confinement. Visitors can study a short-lived architectural experiment that attempted to turn incarceration into a mechanical system.
The museum is at 226 Pearl Street and keeps seasonal hours. Current schedules and admission prices should be confirmed through the Historical and Preservation Society of Pottawattamie County. The organization also offers selected paranormal programs, reflecting the many ghost stories attached to the cells and the building’s long institutional history.
Most old jails are memorable for bars, stone, and bleak rooms. This one adds gears, rotation, and the unnerving idea of people locked inside a moving structure. Its ornate brick exterior gives little warning that the interior once operated like a human-sized carousel.