Overview
Headquarters
Neillsville, WI
Category
Museums and Institutions
The Museum is Open for Public Tours - each Sunday afternoon - 1-4 pm [MEMORIAL DAY THROUGH LABOR DAY ]. Private / Large group / Bus Tours (May to October each year) schedule by calling 715-743-2150 or 715-743-6234. Available Anytime - for research / family history / general inquiry - By appointment The 1897 Clark County Jail Museum was actually the Clark County (WI) Jail and Sheriff's residence from 1897 to 1978. In 1978 a new County Jail / Sheriff's Department was built within the courthouse complex in Neillsville WI. In 1978, the Clark County Historical Society Inc began working with community and county officials to save the building from being torn down and entered into a lease of the structure. These volunteers spent over a year repairing the building and making the improvements necessary to be open for public tours. Beginning in 1980, the Society's members and volunteers operated this Museum as one of two historic sites, along with their other programs. In 2008, the Jail Museum was separately incorporated as the "1897 Clark County Jail Museum Inc " & is maintained & operated by this organization's members/volunteers. Visitors tour the beautiful Victorian home where each Clark County Sheriff and his family lived during their term of office (1897 to 1974). These families brought their own furniture and personal items with them to use during their term of office, then left. making room for the next Sheriff and this family. Today, the residence is filled with period furniture, art, books, musical instruments, as well as personal and household items that have all been donated to the Museum for display. The Jail portion of the Museum, in use from 1897 to 1978, was home for all Clark County WI prisoners, (Highway) Patrol and Sheriff’s Department. Still intact, this old County Jail is filled with vintage law enforcement items, archives, records, local historic items. The third floor in the Jail now serves as a military display.