Kaw City Jail

This is the original Kaw City Jail, now located in Perry Oklahoma at the Cherokee Strip Museum. Kaw City was founded in 1902 before Oklahoma became a state on the oxbow bend of the Arkansas River. It got its name from the Kaw Indian Reservation across the river. Population was at a slow burn before oil was discovered in 1919.

In 1957, the government decided to build a dam across the Arkansas River to control flooding and Congress authorized it in 1962. Ground was broken for the dam in 1966 and completed in 1976 creating Kaw Lake. This caused over a decade of displacement for the community which went on to build the New Kaw City.

But before the original town was covered by the waters of Kaw Lake, the cell from the old jail, that was once housed within a wood frame building, was removed and saved. It was eventually donated to the Cherokee Strip Museum in Perry where it has sat for over half a century.

According to the OHS this jail was built in 1918, it is unclear whether or not that is in reference to the cell itself or the building surrounding it. Newspaper records discuss a new jail being built in Kaw City in 1924.

Gallery Below of Kaw City Jail

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