| City/Town: • Sumner |
| Location Class: • Jail |
| Built: • 1906 | Abandoned: • N/A |
| Status: • Abandoned |
| Photojournalist: • Elizabeth Kalinka |
The Sumner Jail was dedicated in June 1906 with the first inmate being Frank Pearson, a horse tamer. The new concrete fireproof structure was to replace the previous calaboose which was set on fire by prisoner George Cheatham a year prior. The first Marshal was known as Berry and the jail was given the nickname “Hotel el Berry”. A story reported in a local newspaper is included:
Chariton Courier May 17, 1907 – Jas A. Rowlett, the Moberly brakeman who was arrested about a week ago on the charge of breaking a government seal on a boxcar and abstracting some articles therefrom, jumped from a moving train, near Chillicothe, Monday, and escaped from the custody of a US Marshal. He was rearrested in Sumner Monday night by the City Marshal Berry. Rowlett was not injured by his wild leap for freedom. He was placed in the Sumner jail and held until the US Marshal arrived to escort him to St. Joseph.
Gallery Below of Sumner Jail
https://www.newspapers.com/image/174512183/?terms=sumner%20bastile&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/174387502/?terms=sumner%20jail&match=1
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