When Sheriff Russell Oxford last occupied the old county jail in 1971, his wife Jackie used to operate a washer and dryer in the basement of the old jail. At some point after the building was evacuated by the Sheriff’s Department and occupied by the Historical Society, all of the drain connections, supply lines and hot water heater went away.

This has made maintenance difficult at best, only having one operational sink in the entire building on the second floor in the only existing bathroom.

Plans were made at the last board meeting in early January to correct some issues with the building. It was approved to install hot water and plumbing to make the downstairs sink functional again as well as begin work on converting our old book store to a first floor restroom and utility closet with sink.

The necessary pipes have been installed and an on-demand hot water heater was installed in the basement which provides hot water to the upstairs bathroom, the downstairs sink and provisions were made to stub off plumbing in anticipation of connecting to the future bathroom project.

The old book store was moved into the foyer last month which clears the way for the bathroom project which will likely begin when the weather begins to warm up in spring. Elderly individuals and those with handicaps currently are unable to ford the steps to the second floor to use the restroom, so this project is long overdue.