Last fall, I had the opportunity to travel to the Kansas City area for my second Kansas City Chiefs experience. (Go Chiefs!)For those of you who don't know, the Chiefs actually play in Independence, Missouri. My boyfriend and I like to get there on Saturday morning, and he leaves plans for Saturday up to me. Well, I immediately looked for interesting historical museums or houses that we could visit. My eye immediately drawn to the 1859 Jail and Marshal Museum in Independence. Their claim to fame was that the jail once housed Frank James, the brother of the famous Jesse James for about six months. I was definitely in! Tours cost us around $5 and were completely self guided. The building consists of the main house where the Marshal and his family lived. Connected to the house was the 'jail' which had two levels which looked like a dungeon. We walked into the gift shop which was very small, and a very nice lady took our money and gave us tour pamphlets which gave us information about each room and even the objects in the rooms. We were two of only a few people in the museum itself, which was actually kind of nice. We began out tour by going upstairs. (Unfortunately, for some silly reason I didn't get my camera out until the latter part of our tour so I don't have any pictures of the house) The house was furnished modestly-just like it would have been back in the 1800's. Upstairs had a few bedrooms which we were able to see into but were roped off so we couldn't walk in and around in them. They had also opened up part of the hallway so that we could see into the jail from the upper level. I was VERY excited to get down there and see the cells-they looked very ominous and VERY cool. We went back down the stairs, and took a look at the parlor. The parlor was beautiful, which makes sense because this is where families would have put there fanciest items, as this is where they would host company. We walked down the downstairs hallway, past the parlor and looked into the Marshal's office. Then, across the hall was the door to the cells. Here is a picture of what I saw:
On the lower level was the location of the cell used to house Frank James for a period of about six months while waiting to be tried for a train robbery and murder. From what I read in the pamphlet, Frank James was treated pretty much as a celebrity at the jail. He had his own cell furnished with a rug, photos on the wall, a chair and a few other furniture items. Here are two pictures of what Frank James' jail cell looked like:
As I mentioned, the building consisted of the main Marshal's house and the jail. Here is a picture from the courtyard behind the house. It shows the main house the farthest back, the jail on the right side, and the gift shop on the left.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. It was very interesting, and the pamphlet gave a lot of information. Also, I forgot to mention that through the back of the jail is an addition housing many artifacts from the area and also about the James-Younger gang. I would say this is worth the trip as it doesn't take very long and it's pretty neat to say you were in the jail that housed Frank James.
http://www.visitkc.com/member-details/index.aspx?id=28939
*Note, if you're in the area of the jail, visit Clinton's Soda Fountain. It is just around the corner from the jail and was very cool. My boyfriend and I stopped in there for some delicious ice cream. It is well known as the building where Harry Truman worked his first job. Back then it was a pharmacy and soda fountain. It looks very much like it might have back then! And the ice cream was delicious!
http://clintonssodafountain.com/
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