Sheriff’s House & Jail

1880s Sheriff’s Residence

By 1879, Cheboygan County’s population grew to nearly 6,700 people and the log jail built in1858 proved inadequate. In 1880 County officals began construction of a new sheriff’s office and jail at the cost of $5,127.00 and over the next 89 years ten different sheriffs and their families lived and worked in this building. The residence and jail closed in 1969. Today, the residence contains period settings that portray daily life in the late 1880s and early 1900s.

The 1912 Jail

After the jail was condemned in 1911 due to poor conditions and overcrowding an addition was built in 1912 at a cost of $10,600.00. In 2013 The History Center restored the jail to appear as it did during its years of service.

“Each cell is provided with every convenience that a prisoner could ask for, and it will be possible to keep the entire cell block as neat and clean as a parlor with very little work.”

— Cheboygan Democrat, November 15, 1912