Additional Photos / Stories
Anamosa State Penitentiary
- 1911 Prison
staff portrait, in clickable image map format! (added 7/10/97)
- What did the convicts have
for supper in 1898? A typical week's menu. (added 7/11/97)
- Who is knocking at the
prison gate? A story from 1876. (added 7/12/97)
- Great Seal, inset in floor
of prison entrance (added 7/16/97)
- LIONS, LIONS, AND MORE
LIONS! (added 7/27/97)
- Summer sky forms the
backdrop of the administration building. (added 7/27/97)
- Dairy Barn, built in 1929.
At that time, the largest barn in the state. (added 7/27/97)
- Prison Cemetery. (added
7/27/97)
- View of prison, from
cemetery. (added 7/27/97)
- Prison flower garden
(added 7/27/97)
- Prison vegetable garden
(added 7/27/97)
- "State
Penitentiary" insignia on side of cellhouse
(added 7/27/97)
- Guard's belt buckle
and truncheon, c. 1900 (added 8/15/97)
- Prison Press
article (1911) lamenting departure of Warden Barr (added 8/15/97)
- Closeup
of above (added 8/15/97)
- Inmates ate
silently in the dining hall for years. They communicated their need for
extra helpings, etc. with a system of hand signals. (added 8/15/97)
- Prison Press
advertisement for upcoming intramural football game (1937) (added 8/15/97)
- Monticello Express
account of the 1963 riot. Click hyperlinks within the article for supporting
photos (added 8/15/97)
- A stone model of
the prison sat on display outside the administration building for many
years (added 8/15/97)
- Born to raise hell:
Charles and Bert Mecum (added 8/22/97)
- 1880's photos! (added
9/12/97)
- Another view of
administration building. Note car on street, as well as hitching post (for
horses) (added 10/13/97)
- Colorized postcard of
Female Department. Note guard tower on south wall (added 10/16/97)
- New photo of
stonecutting yard (added 10/16/97)
- Closeup
of photo above, showing inmates at work (added 10/16/97)
- Story: The escape of
Anna Hower (added 2/19/98)
- Pictures: Female
Department and beyond.
- Present-day auditorium,
when it was still the prison chapel (courtesy Dick Snavely)
(added 5/18/98)
- Another quarry photo
(courtesy Dick Snavely) (added 5/18/98)
- MAJOR NEW COLLECTION,
courtesy Larry Farrington (added 5/31/98)
- 1880's views, courtesy Paul
Juhl (added 6/23/98)
- Cruisin'
past the prison! (Courtesy Dick Snavely)(added
7/5/98)
- Story: Hard Labor in
the Stonecutting Shed (added 8/27/98)
- Entire prison
population in one long mural! (added 10/17/98)
- Garden at old Warden's
residence circa late 1890's (added 11/18/98) (courtesy Eileen Bohman, via Ernie Rairdin)
- Closeup
of Administration Building circa 1900, with only half the porch
constructed (added 11/20/98).
- New Photos! The
Credenza Collection (added 12/27/98).
- Story: Snapper Hortman (added 1/1/99)
- Rare aerial view from
southwest (courtesy Dick Snavely - added
1/12/99)
- Workin'
the stone -- prison quarry picture (courtesy Dick Snavely
- added 1/12/99)
- The "Scovel Pamphlet"--1898 prison booklet in its
entirety (courtesy Jay Scovel - added 3/4/99)
- Story: "The
Wages Of Sin" (research aided by C. Tellers -- added 4/12/99)
- "Then and
Now": Side-by-side comparison views (new images courtesy Ernie Rairdin -- added 4/16/99)
- "Papa's Men",
according to the text on the card. Meaning unknown. (courtesy Dick Snavely - added 4/27/99)
- 1992 newspaper clipping
of the prison's placement on National Register of Historic Places
(courtesy John Wiese - added 7/21/99)
- "Tom Lunsford,
Guard at Anamosa" according to the back of this card, circa 1905
(donated to ASP through generosity of Vic Elliott of Sidney, Ohio - added
7/21/99)
- A Grave Mistake: The
Outlaw Polk Wells (added 8/22/99)
- High Street
Gardens: Penitentiary Flower Beds (added 9/17/99)
- Deputy Warden's
Residence: 1917 (courtesy Dick Snavely -- added
10/13/99)
- Yard View, circa 1901.
Note guard atop yard tower. (courtesy Dick Snavely
-- added 10/23/99)
- 112,470 Meals And
Counting: The New Prison Dining Hall Opens March 28, 1897 (added 11/19/99)
- The Madden
Collection (courtesy of Keith from California -- added 1/14/00)
- The Miller Group
(courtesy Miller family of Anamosa -- added 3/19/00)
- Modern-day aerial
photo of the prison (added 6/12/00)
- Baskets made
by inmates at ASP in the 1920s (courtesy David Kapell
-- added 8/24/00)
- The "grade"
system and other recollections -- added 3/31/01)
- North Cellhouse, roofless, circa 1900 (courtesy Bertha Finn
-- added 4/23/01)
- Another band picture,
this one taken outside the institution (courtesy Dennie
Hinrichs -- added 8/17/01)
- 1907 Recollections
(added 3/3/02)
- John
Gacy - from Anamosa to infamy (added 7/30/02)
- John
Gacy - rare video footage 1969 (Windows Media
Player needed) (added 12/21/02)
- The Smith
Portraits (courtesy James Smith, Bend, OR -- added 8/28/02)
- Direful Tragedies:
Battered Women Strike Back (added 10/4/02)
- The Stone
Mementos (added 12/22/02)
- $50
Reward! (added 2/18/03)
- The
Strange Case of John Wesley Elkins (reformatted 5/12/03)
- New additions
to the Madden Collection (courtesy Keith Sebo,
updated 5/12/03)
- Token
Economy: A review of Anamosa's brass and aluminum "pop" tokens
(added 6/23/03)
- Prison
employees in cellhouse circa 1900 (courtesy Paul
May and our colleagues at ISP-Ft. Madison (added 9/4/03)
- East
railroad gate, 1880s (courtesy Dick Snavely --
added 9/23/03)
- The
Disappearance of Elmer Dustin (added 11/28/03)
- GENEALOGISTS' CORNER:
+1885 Census
of Penitentiary
inmates (courtesy Richard Harrison and Don Thomsen -- added 9/2/02)
+The
1915 Index - Inmates and Employees from 1873 - 1915 (added 9/29/02, 10/5/08)
+Necrology:
Inmate Deaths 1872-1915 (added 12/20/03)
+Prison
Cemetery: Burials 1872 - 1965 (added 12/20/03)
+Prison
Cemetery: Headstone photos (added 5/16/12)
- Prison
Baseball Photos, early 20th century (added 1/16/04)
- Felix
Pickworth, longtime prison chaplain (courtesy Jo
Anne of Tulsa, OK - added 2/8/04)
- Rare and wonderful
sports photos, 1920s (added 5/2/04)
- Variety
Show, 1920s - includes inmates "in drag" (courtesy Rick
Frankfurt - added 5/2/04)
- 1892 Staff Photo: | low
res | hi
res | (from 1938 Anamosa Journal Centennial edition,
courtesy Jan Holub - added 8/21/04)
- May
27, 1899 edition of The Prison Press (courtesy anonymous donor -
added 9/17/04)
- Siren of
Doom - Delilah Fails (added 11/7/04)
- To The Prison
Born (added 11/8/04)
- Tidbits
- Assorted Short News Stories (added 11/28/04)
- OLDEST
KNOWN PHOTO! (courtesy Paul Juhl, added
8/3/05)
- Panoramic
photograph of institution's frontage (added 1/29/06)
- A few classic 1890s
photos (added 11/24/07)
- The Articulate
Bigamist (added 3/2/08, courtesy Patricia Bryan)
- Featured in
the New York Times! (added 7/15/08)
- The Guard Tower (added
9/13/08, courtesy New York donor)
- The Ultimate
Youthful Offender (added 10/5/08)
- The Baumel Portrait (added 10/14/08, courtesy Jones County
Historical Society)
- The Depression
Collection (added 12/21/08, courtesy Jones County Historical Society)
- Inmates in
Drag Redux (added 1/27/11, courtesy Scott Kelly)
- The Meeks
Sports Gallery (added 3/19/11, courtesy Milt Meeks)
- The Metcalf Additions (added 10/12/2015, courtesy Kathryn Metcalf)
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