Seward Jail

According to local historian Charlie Keller he was alive when the jail was built between 1924-1926. The story behind why the jail was built offers a new explanation to why many of these small towns, who often very little if ever used these jails, decided to spend the money on them in the first place.

“Seward wanted electricity and in order to qualify the town had to incorporate, had to have a city council and eventually, had to have a sheriff and a jail,” Keller said. The city purchased two jail cells and then built the structure around it. The town got involved in the jail process with one woman offering to make the bedding and sheets for the cots inside.

Keller further went on to say the first resident of the cells was a young local boy who had too much to drink one night. “The sheriff was John Weber and he told the boy to quiet down or hed throw him in the jail; the kid told the sheriff he wasnt man enough to do it so Weber took him by the seat of his pants and put him in the jail.

Apparently, in later years, the jail was used as the location for the city council meetings. More recently, cleaning up and restoring the jail seems to be on the list of priorities for community members.

Gallery Below of Seward Jail

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