By appointment only.
The unusual “squirrel cage” jail, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, also serves as a visitors’ information center in Gallatin, Missouri.
The Daviess County Squirrel Cage Jail was completed in 1889. Its unique architectural design provided answers to concerns about prisoner security as well as worries about prisoners breaking out and accomplices breaking in. The octagonal-shaped rotary jail features a rotating deck, divided into individual cells, which spins on a single axis within a perimeter of stationary bars.
Eighteen rotary jails are known to have been constructed — all variations of the patented design by the Pauley Jail Building & Mfg. Company of St. Louis. Only three still stand today as visual markers of yesteryear.