Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau Archives

Building that housed death row back on historic prison tour route

July 4, 2014 By Mike Lear

When history tours at the Missouri State Penitentiary resumed in April, they used a slightly different route than they have in the previous few years. Work that continued to repair roofs and remediate mold at the most historic buildings on the site meant that guests couldn’t be allowed in one building, and had access to parts of others.

The turrets at the center of Housing Unit 3 were intended to intimidate inmates being housed there. (courtesy; Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau)

This week some of those limits were removed, as the repair and remediation work nears completion. Guests can now get into half of Housing Unit 3, a cell block finished in 1918 that once housed Missouri’s death row. The rest of that building is expected to be available some time next month.

The agreement between the state and Jefferson City that led to work on the prison was announced in November, 2013

Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Diane Gillespie says the popular paranormal tours resumed this week. She says those use all of the buildings the history tours use.

“We will use Housing Unit 1 and 4 and a part of Housing Unit 3 along with the gas chamber,” says Gillespie. “We have had very great success with people wanting to come and book for the ghost tours.”

Gillespie says guests have been understanding and supportive about the ongoing work, and the impact it has had on tours.

“The feedback that we have gotten is that they are just delighted that the state and the city have stepped up to help preserve the buildings and that we continue to be able to offer tours to our visitors,” says Gillespie, “and our guides have done a great job in being able to continue to tell the full story of MSP even if they can’t get full access to all the buildings.”

Gillespie says the patience of tour guests and guides will be rewarded.

“That’s what we keep telling everybody. Yes, we have to be flexible during this season, but once this season is over with we’ve got full access to moving forward for the next fifteen years,” says Gillespie. “That’s very instrumental in us being able to move forward with bookings and offering MSP to convention groups, events and film groups that want to schedule further out than we’ve been able to in the past.”

MSP closed in 2004 and several years later opened to public tours. Since 2011 those have been offered by the Visitors Bureau through a lease agreement with the state, which still owns the prison property. The prison was 168 years old when it closed and had been the oldest operating prison west of the Mississippi.

Tours resume today and work continues at historic state prison

April 21, 2014 By Mike Lear

Tours of Missouri’s 178-year-old state penitentiary resume today as work continues to save its oldest buildings.

Crews are seen working on the roof of A-Hall, which dates back to 1868 and is the oldest building still standing at the Missouri State Penitentiary. (Photo courtesy, Missouri Office of Administration)

Crews are seen working on the roof of A-Hall or Housing Unit 4, which dates back to 1868 and is the oldest building still standing at the Missouri State Penitentiary. (Photo courtesy, Missouri Office of Administration)

The state and the City of Jefferson are splitting up to $2-million of the cost of mold remediation and roof repair in four buildings at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. Buildings dating as far back as 1868 had been going without major maintenance since the prison was decommissioned in 2004.

Mark Schreiber spent 42 years working for the Department of Corrections, much of it inside “the Walls,” where he developed a passion for its history. He has advocated for years to see those buildings saved and credits the state for setting this in motion.

“It’s very pleasing to see the progress that’s been made,” says Schreiber. “It’s the difference between night and day already, and to see that we’re moving forward and getting something done with the roofs, seeing that they’re doing something with the condition of the interiors of the buildings and how they’re sealing them and preserving them, it’s just really great.”

Crews are putting roofs on and remediating mold in three cell blocks that once held inmates like Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, James Earl Ray and Sonny Liston, and the gas chamber where 39 men and 1 woman were executed between 1938 and 1989.

Tours of the prison were suspended in September due to concerns about mold in some of those buildings. Director of the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Diane Gillespie says she’s excited to see those tours resume, though for the first couple of months of the tour season the route will be “modified.”

Three of the four buildings that are being worked on are seen in this wide shot: Housing Unit 3 or McClung Hall at left, the four-story Housing Unit 4 or A-Hall to the right and Housing Unit 1 behind A-Hall. (Photo courtesy, Missouri Office of Administration)

“We will not have access to all four of the buildings,” explains Gillespie. “Currently Housing Unit 3 is going to need some additional work so that is going to take a little bit longer, but we will have access to Housing Unit 1 and Housing Unit 4 along with the gas chamber.”

She tells Missourinet the full tours and a full offering will open up after July 1.

“We’re filling up actually for August, September and October for the ghost tours,” Gillespie tells Missourinet. “At that time we’ll have full access to all four of the buildings, and actually we’ll be able to have maybe a little bit more access to some of the buildings than what we’ve had in the past.”

Schreiber, always the historian, notes there is a significant difference between the people working on those buildings now and those that would have worked on them during much of the prison’s use.

“Instead of the contractors that we have now it would have been inmates … offenders, which would have been called convicts back then,” says Schreiber. “We know that from even back in the 1920s when the roof burned off of A-Hall … we’ve got photographs that show the inmates putting the roof back on.”

See our earlier story on the agreement regarding use of the historic prison

Agreement announced between Jefferson City, State on use of historic prison

November 6, 2013 By Mike Lear

Governor Jay Nixon has announced an agreement between the State and Jefferson City that aims to reopen the historic Missouri State Penitentiary to tours by spring, and a potential long-term agreement between the city and state for use of the prison site.

Governor Jay Nixon (at podium) announces an agreement on the use of the Missouri State Penitentiary, joined by (from left to right) Office of Administration Commissioner Doug Nelson, Jefferson City Mayor Eric Struemph and State Senator Mike Kehoe.

Tours of the decommissioned prison were halted in September when excessive levels of mold were recorded. The agreement would cover renovations of four buildings deemed historic, Housing Units 1, 3, 4 and the Gas Chamber, to stop further mold development plus remediation of the mold that’s there, up to a cost of $2-millon split evenly between the City and the State.

Nixon anticipates a quick turnaround on the work.

“The goal is to begin tours once again in the spring,” Nixon said.

The State’s share comes from funds already budgeted for facilities maintenance and repair. The City would spend money out of a capital improvement half-cent sales tax passed several years ago intended for projects including development in and around the prison.

The Jefferson City Council must still vote to approve the expenditure. That vote will happen at a special meeting tomorrow night at 5:30 at City Hall.

Nixon says this use of state money is justified to bolster Missouri tourism.

“The Missouri State Penitentiary is an iconic Jefferson City landmark that attracts thousands of visitors each year. While they’re here these visitors eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores and explore the other outstanding attractions in the area creating jobs and generating economic activity throughout the region.”

He also defended having Jefferson City expend money on a state-owned property.

The agreement could allow the city to continue tours at (left to right) Housing Units 1, 3, 4 and (not pictured) the Gas Chamber for the next 25 years. (Photos courtesy: Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau)

“I think that with the economic benefit that the City will see and the clear marketing strategy that the City and the (Jefferson City Convention and) Visitor’s Bureau have already laid out, that this is one in which we wanted to be helpful with them … we just think this is the best way for us to be responsible stewards of the dollars but to work with the Capital City here.”

The Council will also vote on, and the Governor also announced, a 15-year use agreement governing the management of the site that could be extended twice for 5 years each.

That agreement would allow the City to continue tours of the historic prison, to establish a museum, gift shop and coffee bar in the 145-year-old Housing Unit 4, to hold social gatherings and events at the site and to allow film or video requests. The agreement states that “public tours shall emphasize and focus on the historic nature of MSP.”

Under the agreement the City will cover expenses with the proceeds from tours and other events at MSP and use the remaining income to make repairs and improvements to the site, as approved by the state’s Division of Facilities Management, Design & Construction.

See a copy of the proposed agreement between Jefferson City and the State of Missouri

Office of Administration Commissioner Doug Nelson explained that roof repair, window repair and then remediation of the site will begin quickly. He tells Missourinet, “We are in the process right now of finalizing our testing and we should have those results hopefully even this week, and then the plan is to go out to bid and move forward with the construction phase … once the buildings are encapsulated and the weather stays out of them, the final phase will be remediation and then we’ll be good to go.”

Visitor’s Bureau Director Diane Gillespie was visibly relieved by the announcement. She took in January her position at the Bureau, which has been conducting tours of the site since 2009.

She says, “It’s the first step. We still have a lot of process to go through … but we’re all talking. We’re all sitting down working together.”

She doesn’t know when the Bureau will begin booking more tours for 2014. She says, “The next step is to sit down and try to put a timeline together as to will we be ready to go in March, which is normally when our tour season starts. March is always kind of an iffy month for us because of the weather so if it’s April, then we’ll take April.”

Nixon credited Senator Mike Kehoe (R-Jefferson City) with persistence and hard work in bringing State and city officials together on the issue. Nixon said of Kehoe, “When a lot of folks point fingers in public service and find excuses to not get things done, Senator Kehoe is a fine example of somebody who likes to get things done.”

Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) couldn’t be at the hearing while the committee on Medicaid that he chairs was meeting. He tells Missourinet, “I think it’s a great step forward for the City of Jefferson and the State of Missouri. I’m hopeful that we can get things fixed.” He called the pending agreement, “Good for the entire state.”