History of Kent County.

60

HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY

JAIL
In its early day the county was not only compelled to house its own
law violators, but those of other counties, as by an act of the legislature of 1838, prisoners apprehended in Ionia and Ottawa counties
were to be placed for safe keeping in the Kent county jail. Kent's
jail, at that time, and up to 1844, consisted of a portion of the court
house, itself a crude affair in appearance, much like the school houses
of that period. Fire destroying the court house in 1844, prisoners were
detained in rented quarters and for years a cellar under a building, which
stood on the east side of Canal (now Monroe) street opposite the
present Portland Hotel, was used for the purpose. In 1851 a site
was purchased, a short distance south of Bridge street and west of
Front, and a few years later a two-story frame building was erected,
the front portion being used as the sheriff's residence and the rear, of
heavy oak planks protected on the inside with sheet iron, serving as a
jail.
In 1872 a new jail was completed and occupied. The site of the
then new building was on Island No. 2, but the island has disappeared
and the lot is bounded by the river on the west, Louis street on the
north, Campau avenue on the east and Pike street on the south.
In October, 1870, plans for the new building were accepted and
Isaac Haynes, Arthur Wood, Foster Tucker, Ezra A. Hebrand and
Robert Hunter, Jr., were appointed as a committee to supervise its
construction. It was built by Davidson, Farr & Company and was
completed and accepted in 1872, having cost, together with sewerage,
grading, etc., a trifle less than $50,000. At the time of its completion
it was considered a model jail and the handsomest county building, being of brick construction with stone foundation, with cells supplied
with all the modern appliances obtainable at that time. The sheriff's
residence and office were a part of the building.
For over fifty years this building has been serving its purpose of
a jail and has become more or less inadequate and the question of the
necessity for a larger and more modern building has been the subject
of discussion for a long time. The question of location seems to be
difficult to solve satisfactorily. The families of the sheriffs still occupy
part of the old building as a residence.
In 1925 the county authorities determined to give the prisoners
under sentence, something to occupy their time and to do this, established a cement block plant in connection with the jail. In this plant
the prisoners mentioned, work from seven o'clock in the morning to
five in the afternoon, receiving from the county twenty-five cents per
day, and of course the board and necessary clothing. Prisoners held
for examination, or for any other reason than for serving out a
sentence, are permitted to work at the same rate.
CITY HALL
In the early days the officers of the village were in the same
predicament as were the postmasters as for many years there was no
building provided for the especial use of the legislative body or vil