A history of the 1885 "Squirrel Cage" rotary cell jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and information about some of the colorful prisoners housed there over the years and their crimes.

Tales From the Squirrel Cage Jail

History

Roenfeld, Ryan

Warner, Richard

Americas

lulu.com

During the 1830s, a path appeared where Indian Creek flowed out of the loess hills at Caldwell’s Potawatomi village and led west across the Eight-Mile Prairie. A decade later, that path became Broadway through Mormon Kanesville where California-bound 49ers found anything for sale. Kanesville became Council Bluffs after 1852 as Broadway spread from Mud Hollow and Old Town past the Fourth Street Angle across a “sea of prairie grass and sun-flowers” to the ferries on the Big Muddy, the Missouri River. More changes came with the Northwestern, Union Pacific, and Illinois Central Railroads as Broadway evolved into the route of four U.S. highways. People went to work at World Radio, Woodward’s, and Omaha Standard, and notorious mobster Meyer Lansky ran greyhounds where stock cars later raced at Playland Park while teenagers cruised for hamburgers and entertainment.

Council Bluffs: Broadway (IA) (Images of America)

Arts & Photography

Warner, Dr. Richard

Photography & Video

Arcadia Publishing

The Development of the Union Pacific Transfer Grounds at Council Bluffs

Tales From the Squirrel Cage Jail Volume 2

All traces of Captain Caldwell’s Potawatomi settlement and the Mormon safe haven of Kanesville were gone from the Indian Creek hollow by 1900, when Council Bluffs already seemed a 20th-century city of bright lights, steam, and smokestacks. The old western trails and steamboats disappeared as the city on the east bank of the Missouri River opposite Omaha became a major American railroad center and the industrial and commercial hub of southwest Iowa. Vineyards and orchards surrounded a growing city, with more acres under glass for greenhouses than anywhere else in the country and a daily stop for the Zephyr, Hiawatha, Rocket, Challenger, and other streamlined passenger trains. The West End was filled in, and new neighborhoods like Danetown and Little Vienna grew with new immigrants. All of the people of Council Bluffs faced fires, floods, and tornados as the “Blue Denim City,” where America’s mail was sorted survived economic upheaval, urban renewal, and eventual resurgence in the last decade of the century.

Council Bluffs (Images of America)

Wicked Omaha

In old Omaha, the scent of opium wafted through saloon doors, while prostitutes openly solicited customers. When the St. Elmo theater ran short of the usual entertainment, the residents could always fall back on robbing strangers. Tenants of the Burnt District squirmed under the extorting thumb of a furniture dealer dubbed the Man-Landlady. The games of chance and confidence and outright municipal graft all played a part in a wicked city where gambler Tom Dennison ran politics and Madam Anna Wilson drove philanthropy. Join Ryan Roenfeld for a stroll along the seamier side of Omaha's past.

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

The History Press

Gambling, prostitution, and confidence games in the frontier community of Council Bluffs, Iowa

"Tin Horn Gamblers and Dirty Prostitutes": Vice in 19th Century Council Bluffs

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

The meat-packing industry changed significantly during the late 20th century and questions over profit, labor, and the byproducts of industry played out in Council Bluffs, Iowa after the opening of Beefland International. Beefland was the first, but not last, name the facility operated under while core contentions continued.

Council Bluffs and the Beefland Stink of 1970

During the 1830s, a path appeared where Indian Creek flowed out of the loess hills at Caldwell's Potawatomi village and led west across the Eight-Mile Prairie. A decade later, that path became Broadway through Mormon Kanesville where California-bound 49ers found anything for sale. Kanesville became Council Bluffs after 1852 as Broadway spread from Mud Hollow and Old Town past the Fourth Street Angle across a "sea of prairie grass and sun-flowers" to the ferries on the Big Muddy, the Missouri River. More changes came with the Northwestern, Union Pacific, and Illinois Central Railroads as Broadway evolved into the route of four U.S. highways. People went to work at World Radio, Woodward's, and Omaha Standard, and notorious mobster Meyer Lansky ran greyhounds where stock cars later raced at Playland Park while teenagers cruised for hamburgers and entertainment.

Council Bluffs: Broadway

Arcadia Publishing Library Editions

All traces of Captain Caldwell's Potawatomi settlement and the Mormon safe haven of Kanesville were gone from the Indian Creek hollow by 1900, when Council Bluffs already seemed a 20th-century city of bright lights, steam, and smokestacks. The old western trails and steamboats disappeared as the city on the east bank of the Missouri River opposite Omaha became a major American railroad center and the industrial and commercial hub of southwest Iowa. Vineyards and orchards surrounded a growing city, with more acres under glass for greenhouses than anywhere else in the country and a daily stop for the Zephyr, Hiawatha, Rocket, Challenger, and other streamlined passenger trains. The West End was filled in, and new neighborhoods like Danetown and Little Vienna grew with new immigrants. All of the people of Council Bluffs faced fires, floods, and tornados as the "Blue Denim City," where America's mail was sorted survived economic upheaval, urban renewal, and eventual resurgence in the last decade of the century.

Council Bluffs

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