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I came to the idea of photographing Indiana’s old jails and sheriff’s residences far later than I probably should have. Between 2011 and 2017, I set out to visit every historic courthouse in Indiana. Towards the end, I realized just how many of those early county jails are still standing! I doubt I’ll make it out to some of the state’s most far-flung communities again to capture them all, but I did manage to stop in Columbia City and snap several shots of the old Whitley County Jail. It’s a striking structure.

The jail I took pictures of was Whitley County’s third. The first was built in 1840 on what’s now part of the courthouse square. The $490 building lasted until 1855, when a prisoner awaiting trial burned it down. The county’s second jail -a two-story building- was completed the same year at 112 South Chauncey Street, now site of Columbia City’s City Hall¹. 

The third was designed by J.C. Johnson and built in 1875 at a cost of $34,486². Johnson -a prominent self-taught architect³– also drew up plans for several courthouses, including those in Adams, Hamilton, and Randolph Counties in Indiana, as well as Defiance County’s in Ohio. Johnson’s Second Empire sheriff’s residence features cues straight from his courthouses, like a mansard roof, dormer windows, detailed cornices, and decorative brackets. 

The jail itself -the blocky rear section of the sheriff’s residence- doesn’t boast nearly the same architectural charm as the ornate front portion of the building. As such, I didn’t focus on it. Still, that wing is a crucial part of the story: those plain, chunky walls once held the county’s inmates and miscreants, which makes them just as much a witness to local history as the decorative façade out front.

A modern jail was eventually built at 101 West Market Street on the south edge of Columbia City’s courthouse square. Late last year, a new $34 million jail was built two-and-a-half miles away at 711 Opportunity Drive⁴. Whitley County’s transition was dramatic: overnight, officials traded one of Indiana’s oldest working jails for one of its most state-of-the-art facilities⁵. 

Still, the even older jail persists as a landmark near downtown Columbia City. It’s said that the fence that once surrounded the jail was moved to Broxon Cemetery, a burial ground of about two-hundred interments in Whitley County’s Jefferson Township⁶. All but a piece of the fence, which was relocated back to the jail, was sold to a Fort Wayne scrapper in 1961⁷. 

I’ve seen some old jails abandoned, some turned into law offices, and some that are still used for their original purposes. Since 1991, Whitley County’s has been a haunted house! “Your epic, bone chilling trip through the Haunted Jail,” its website proclaims, “will give you a never before seen perspective⁸.” 

Hauntings aside, my visit to Columbia City’s old jail reminded me how buildings carry layered identities. What began as a fortress of law and order in the 1870s has since become both a historic landmark and, now, a stage for thrills. That’s an unlikely afterlife! Still, it feels fitting- Indiana’s old jails are storytellers, in one way or another. Even if I never manage to photograph all of them left hereabouts, I’m glad I caught this one before its story fades further into the shadows.

Sources Cited
1 Whitley County Jail (2013, August 2). The Historical Marker Database. Web. Retrieved September 23, 2025. 
2 (See footnote 1). 
3 Dilts, Jon. The Magnificent 92 Indiana Courthouses. Bloomington. Indiana University Press. 1999. Print.
4 Yeley, J. (2025, October 22). October. 22 – New Whitley County jail combines rehabilitation with public safety. The Whitley County Post and Mail. Web. Retriebed September 23, 2025. 
5 (See footnote 4). 
6 Cemetery Fence Was Formerly Around Jail States Eyewitness (1961, August 7). The Columbia City Commercial-Mail. p. 1. 
7 (See footnote 6). 
8 The Haunted Jail- Not Your Average Haunted Attraction (n.d.). The Haunted Jail Columbia City. Web. Retrieved September 24, 2025.