Exploring the historic Cuba City Jail built in 1908: a restoration repurposed the jail into a museum

Cuba City Jail built in 1908 was a concrete block.Photo byJERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Cuba City Jail is a historic structure at Prairie Street and the 300 block of South Main Street in Cuba, Missouri (Crawford County). On October 29, 2014, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Cuba was founded in 1857 and has a current population of 3,207. If you ever pass through Cuba, there are places to discover and things to do.

The jail is rectangular and made of concrete blocks. It was built in 1908. It had a space with a desk for the guard and a wood-burning stove. In the rear of the building was a cell room with a pair of hanging iron bunks. This concrete facility was used until 1954. It now serves as a museum but with limited access.

The Cuba City Jail is the oldest city government building left in Cuba. In the center above the iron door are the words, “CUBA-JAIL” and the construction date of “1908.” There is prison-related furniture inside. It includes a wooden desk, a wood cot, and a wood-burning stove. Those items were installed during 2004-2006 when it underwent restoration.

When the jail was nominated for the National Register, its original iron and wood jail cell sleeping platforms were intact. In 1954, a new jail was built and adjoined to the rear of City Hall and the Fire Station.

The first jail built in Cuba was made of wood and inmates burned it. That's probably when the town realized the jail shouldn't be built out of wood. The second and new concrete jail was completed before the summer of 1908.

According to city officials and local historians, many city records were destroyed by fire, so there's no record of who was jailed or what the crimes were.

While the role of the historic jail was a necessity, the cell was restricted as to how many criminals it could safely hold. It was only intended to hold two people.

By the early 1950s, the concrete jail was thought to be too far from City Hall plus it was not adequate to contain more than two prisoners. Eventually, a new and needed larger jail was constructed in 1954.

The old jail sat for 50 years. On October 4, 2004, the Cuba Board of Aldermen and Mayor John Koch permitted Boy Scout, Verlin Boda, to renovate the jail building. He restored it between 2004 and 2006 for an Eagle Scout Project. He's also the one who installed the wood stove, beds, and desk inside the jail.

Remarkably, the old jail structure is the oldest city government building in Cuba and still exists.

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