Delmar Calaboose is a historic

one-room jail In the United States, a one-room jail is a type of jail with only one room, or cell. One-room jail ;Examples * Buhler Jail: Red brick building in Buhler, Kansas. * Clifton Cliff Jail: Stone building constructed in Clifton, Arizona, located at th ...

located in

Delmar, Iowa Delmar is a city in Clinton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 542 at the time of the 2020 census. History Delmar was platted in 1871, shortly after the railroad was built through the site. The name Delmar is said to be a combination ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The word calaboose is a corruption of the Spanish word ''calabozo'', which means dungeon. The building was built for and used as a jail in frontier Iowa. The walls and roof of the one-story structure are composed of limestone and mortar. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1981.

History

When the Davenport, St. Paul and Midland railroad was being built the town of Delmar had yet to be incorporated, but it had a prosperous liquor trade serving the construction workers. It had become such a problem by the time the town incorporated in 1876 that the town council increased the licensing fees on liquor dealers and saloon keepers to regulate the trade. The plan did not work as those in the liquor trade refused to buy the licenses. Other citizens in Delmar demanded the construction of a town jail. A committee was established in March 1877 to study the possibility, and they recommended that the old school building be used for a jail. It is not known if the plan was ever carried out, but by early 1878 there was a strong desire to build a new jail. Another committee was formed in April of that year to recommend a site and plan a new building. By early summer property on Vane Street was purchased for $50 and the council approved plans for a stone structure. A.T. Phillips, a local builder, submitted the low bid of $175 and construction began immediately. The calaboose was completed in early October 1878 and the town took possession of it. The small jail is the oldest extant public building in Delmar, and the town would use it well into the twentieth century. Similar structures are throughout the United States

Architecture

The calaboose is a structure. The

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

concrete roof is high. The walls of locally quarried

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

are thick. Narrow window slits with grated openings are located on the east and west elevations of the building. The main entrance into the structure is a heavy

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

door with strap hinges and a grated opening located on the south elevation. The interior is a single room that is sheathed in plaster without ornamentation. The furnishings include a stove, folding cot, bureau, table, and chair that appear to be from the early twentieth century.

References

{{NRHP in Clinton County, Iowa Government buildings completed in 1878 Buildings and structures in Clinton County, Iowa Jails on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Clinton County, Iowa Vernacular architecture in Iowa Jails in Iowa