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The Living Quarters of the Clark Co.,
WI Jail Museum
| Neillsville's
first jail was built in 1866 and its second in 1881. In
1897 a third and more substantial jail was built and housed
beautiful living quarter for the sheriff and his family. The
total construction cost was $15,000 and over 209 cords of brick
were used. The LaCrosse architecture firm of Stozle & Schick
were the designers. The castle-like structure, with its turrets,
juts up three stories and is one of the most unique in the state
with its fortress-like architecture. This formidable Clark County
jail was place on the National and State Historic Register in
1978 and is operated by the Clark County Historical Society.
Upon arriving as a guest--and not as a prisoner--you will enter
a lovely two-story Victorian home. The sheriff's living quarters
consists of 11 rooms. The first floor includes a parlor complete
with a fireplace, sheriff's office, a beautiful Victorian staircase,
and a large kitchen area (the sheriff's wife also prepared meals
for the prisoners). The upper floor includes a child's room,
the Listeman bedroom with a carved bed, an old photo room, and
a jewelry store. All rooms are furnished with period pieces.
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In the early 1900's Sheriff Robert Eunson occupied the residence
with his second wife, Jessie, and his two children, Dale and Genevieve.
When Robert Eunson's term as sheriff expired, he packed up his family
and moved to Montana to claim a homestead. His son, Dale, went on to
become a well-known writer and dramatist. His non-fiction story entitled,
"The Day They Gave Babies Away" was written in 1946 and has become
a modern classic. It is the only story ever to have been published three
times in one magazine, Cosmopolitan, and it has been dramatized
on radio and television. In many of his other writings, Dale refers
to his childhood memories of Neillsville, and when his father was sheriff
of Clark County.
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