Caching in Weston, MO & Ft. Leavenworth, KS 8/25/2010

Seeing as we had done all the caches here in Platte City we had to find someplace out to go so it was Weston, MO first. Weston is a small town with a population of about 1700 but is rich in history and beautiful old buildings. The land upon which Weston was established was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Members of the Lewis & Clark expedition, called The Corp of Discovery, visited the Weston Area as they explored the Louisiana Territory in 1804. A marker located at the end of Main Street, near the Weston Depot, commemorates their campsite. The Depot, built in 1922, is now home to Weston City Hall and is located in what was once the Missouri River channel.
Lewis and Clark reported that the area was beautiful with fertile soil and a diverse landscape full of plant and animal life. Their glowing reports of the area prompted fur-trading companies to send traders and trappers.
After the Platte Purchase of 1836, 2 million acres were opened for settlement by pioneers. The call went out... "Land in Northwest Missouri, access to river traffic, fertile soil and beautiful landscape." In 1837 Joseph Moore, a discharged Dragoon soldier from Fort Leavenworth, ferried across the Mighty Missouri and took up claim, building a cabin on land that became the city of Weston. It was rumored Moore traded a barrel of whiskey to a trapper named McPherson for the parcel of land.
Unable to successfully carry out his plan for the town, Moore sold a half interest of his claim to Bela Hughes, a young lawyer from Kentucky. Hughes used his influence to attract the most promising settlers, including a significant number of German and French decent, who came by wagons and steamboats from Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia.
He surveyed the town to divide into lots, providing quitclaim deeds to be held until the plat filing. The town was built in the valley created by hills on the bluffs of the Missouri River and as the first city founded in the six county Platte Purchase area, became know as "Queen of the Platte."
Word of Weston's success spread quickly. From all directions came doctors, lawyers, and zealous land speculators. A prominent German influence turned the downtown area into a profitable retail outlet supplying the surrounding countryside. During the early days at Fort Leavenworth, the United States government relied on Weston to accommodate the needs of the Fort. Officers, enlisted men, and their families also ferried across the river for their personal trading and entertainment.
The Southern hemp and tobacco growers poured into the newly acquired land to farm the fertile soil. Many were wealthy slave holding families, others poor farmers seeking a better life in a new territory. Hemp, the main cash crop, was very difficult work, profitable only with slave labor; so by 1875 hemp was no longer produced in Platte County.
Though not as important as hemp in the early days, through the years tobacco has become a very important cash crop for Weston and Platte County. The annual tobacco yield in Platte County prior to 1861 was 25 million pounds and Weston developed the only tobacco market west of the Mississippi until 2001. It's annual auction from November to January brought in millions of dollars. Today about 2.8 million pounds of tobacco is grown annually in Platte County, however it is now contracted to tobacco companies, or shipped to markets in the South. When you visit Weston in the fall, you still see the familiar large tobacco barns amidst the leafy fields.
The farthest "West Town" in the United States, Weston's heyday was between its founding in 1837 and 1860. A bustling town for people heading west, it was the last place wagon trains could stock up before they crossed the Missouri River and entered wilderness. The steamboats unloaded supplies for Fort Leavenworth and supplies for Westward travelers, and then loaded back up with Weston products of tobacco, hemp ropes, hides, and later lumber, whiskey, and fruit as they headed home.
A chain of destructive events would bring change and devastation to the Weston area. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 made Missouri a slave state and led to years of strife between the abolitionists from Kansas just across the river and the Weston planters, who came from the South. By the 1850's the slavery issue had brought increased tension and unrest to the Missouri-Kansas border and the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 sparked even further unrest between the residents. It actually served to repeal the Missouri comprise of 1820. Demonstration and conflict on the streets of Weston were frequent.
In 1855 fire nearly destroyed the downtown business district. A deadly cholera epidemic took the lives of hundreds of residents. The flood of 1858 crippled the steamboat trade for months and destroyed the port to Weston. The Civil War tore Weston apart, dividing its residents and ending its slaved-based economy. By 1870 the population was only 900 people. In 1881 the fickle river dealt what many believed would be a deathblow when it flooded and slipped into an old channel 2 miles west, leaving Weston behind.
But Weston persevered and some say Weston is better off. Certainly continued growth would have doomed its collection of antebellum and Victorian buildings. In the late 1950's, an appreciation of the rich heritage of Weston surfaced. The Weston Historical Museum was founded in 1960 and many of the more than 100 antebellum homes began to be restored to their original condition. In 1972, given Weston's history as a significant mid-nineteenth century Missouri River port community, along with the preservation of a substantial portion of its early residences and commercial structures, 22 blocks within the city, with more than100 buildings qualifying, it was designated as an historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1982 the Weston Development Company, a non-for-profit association, was formed to spearhead the redevelopment of the downtown business district.
Today family traditions left behind by Weston's early pioneers have remained a common thread among the residents of this romantic hamlet in Northwest Missouri. New houses are being built and old ones lovingly restored. The downtown and uptown business areas are thriving. The town and region look forward to sustained, orderly growth that makes it possible to retain the feel of a small town.



Our first cache was at the Bowman Wine Cellars, Weston Brewing Co and O'Malley's 1842 Irish Pub. Yes 3 businesses in one building. Bowman's was in front and O'Malley's down in back and the Weston Brewing Co in back and to the side. Predating Anheuser-Busch by more than ten years, the Weston Brewing Company was first established in 1842 by German immigrant John Georgian.
Upon Georgian's death in 1857, the brewery was acquired by August Kunz. The Kunz family, Joseph and Charles, were active in the brewery business in Leavenworth, KS, during the same time period.
Kunz rebuilt the brewery after it was destroyed by fire in 1860, and continued to operate it until 1872, when he closed it due to financial problems. The brewery remained in an inactive status until 1885 when another Leavenworth brewer, John Brandon, an English immigrant and engineer by trade, teamed with fellow Leavenworth resident, George Mack, to reopen the brewery.
As respective Manager and Superintendent of the brewery, Brandon and Mack negotiated a deal with famous Lawrence, KS brewer, John Walruff. Walruff with his son August, acquired the brewery in 1887.
Walruff, a native of Cologne, Prussia and machinist by trade, dabbled in politics and banking in Ottawa, KS, before opening a large brewery and beer garden in Lawrence, KS.
When the Kansas Legislature passed a prohibition law in 1880, Walruff spent six years and many thousands of dollars trying to circumvent the law by claiming his products were 'medical beer' that cured stomach and other intestinal ailments.
A United States Supreme Court decision in 1887 against Salina, KS brewer, Peter Mugler and the United States Brewers' Association, concerning a States' right to close down a brewery if the State felt it would prevent injurious use of its product was the final blow to Walruff. Walruff soon gave up his fight and relocated his brewery to Weston, MO.
Walruff and son August spent $50,000 to refurbish the Plant. August even took courses in Cincinnati to become a master brewer. The elder Walruff spent only one and a half years in Weston, moving to Kansas City in 1890. By 1894, it was rumored that he had piled up over $40,000 in debt. August stayed in Weston and was elected Mayor; a position he held for a good many years.
The brewery made 12,000 barrels of pale lager annually, had 20 employees, and was worth $80,000. Weston offices were located at 15th and Hickorv in Kansas City, MO and the Leavenworth Depot at 319 Shawnee. In 1901, a new corporation was formed called the Royal Brewing Co., of Kansas City with a net worth of $50,000. The incorporators were listed as Benjamin J. Joffee, Benjamin F. Wollman, Morton WolIman, August F. Walruff and John Walruff. A branch office was established at 1111-1114 Grand Avenue in Kansas City, MO. In 1904 it moved to 1912 Grand Avenue.
In 1907, the old corporation was replaced by a new one with capital stock listed at $200,000. The new incorporators were Dan Danciger, Jack Danciger and Abe Danciger. The Kansas City branch office was moved to 308 West 6th Street and later changed to 310 W. 6th Street,
A few years before prohibition, the brewery like many others in the country began producing a 'near beer'.
Promoted as the "oldest brewery West of the Hudson River," the brewery sponsored the first Kansas City Royals baseball team in the early 1900's.
The Weston Royal label was well known throughout the Midwest and even Europe in its heyday. In the early 1900's, the brewery was the largest manufacturing plant in Platte County and was producing 20,000 barrels a year.
Popular brands produced by the brewery were a Royal Pilsener advertised as "the beer that made Milwaukee jealous;" Rip Van Winkle, "the world's richest bottle of beer;" and Vivatone, "a family beverage for all ailments."
Five stone cellars that were dug in the 1840's were used to lager and chill the beer in solid oaken tanks. Two cellars are currently in operation as O'Malley's Irish Pub.
We found the cache under an old buckboard wagon, looked around and took some pictures and were off to the next cache.

Before we did our next cache we walked around the corner to Pirtle's Winery for a little wine tasting. In July of 1978, the Pirtle Winery was established in historic Weston, Missouri. Presently, we are a small, quality-oriented winery; this allows us to give a great deal of personal attention to our wines. We believe this attention to detail is why our award-winning wines can hold their own against others from the US and around the world.
Our winery building is in a former Lutheran Evangelical Church that was built by German immigrants in 1867. Wine production takes place in our press house, which is on the bottom floor of the building. Our tasting room and store are on the second floor, and a vine-covered wine garden is between the winery building and press house. We tasted 5 or 6 different wines that they make and did end up buying 2 bottles.


Next cache was at the United Methodist Church in the downtown area. On April 7, 1838, 52 people gathered in the small cabin home of Jeremiah Wood and announced their intentions to God to organize and meet as a congregation. In the late 1840's, Weston became an outfitting post for all other area towns along the Missouri river. By 1854 Weston grew to a community of 5, 000 people.
During this time the need for a new building was obvious. There was much political unrest that caused division in the community and challenged the early years of the Methodist Church. After four years of neighbor against neighbor and brother against brother, tribulations known only to civil war, peace again came to Weston and construction of a new building was resumed.
The Civil War brought construction of the Weston United Methodist to a halt. The church found itself divided on the slavery issue and during the war the church stood empty and unfinished. With peace restored the building was completed and in 1868, nine years after construction had begun, the Church was dedicated with a grand celebration. We found the cache and besides we were the first to find it.


Our last cache in Weston was near the old Weston Train Depot now used as a Town Hall. It also is the site of a parking lot for the Weston Bluff Trail and a site of some history regarding the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Supposedly the Lewis & Clark Expedition camped on this site in July 1804 opposite the head of the Bear Medicine Island and replaced a broken mast with a cut cottonwood. They noted that across the river could be seen remains of the old French Fort de Cavagnal in the rear of the first Kansas Indian village. The party that was stationed there were probably cut off by the Indians as there was no sign of them.


Then it was off to Fort Leavenworth, KA and 3 more caches and a drive around the Ft. Leavenworth Military Base. Our first cache was in a small park on a hill overlooking the Missouri River.

Next was a cache at St. Paul's Episcopal Church that was established in 1856 and is the oldest church of its kind in Kansas. In 1837, the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church arrived at Fort Leavenworth in "Indian Territory". He was the first ordained minister of the Episcopal Church to set foot on Kansas soil.
In 1856, the Rev. Hiram Stone heard one of Bishop Kemper's fervid appeals for help in his vast field and volunteered his services. On December 10, 1856, he announced the organization of Saint Paul's Church, Leavenworth City, the first permanent Episcopal organization in the Diocese. A neat wooden church with a capacity of seating two hundred person opened for service on September 5, 1858. Bishop Kemper visited the parish on August 14, 1859 and confirmed eight persons.
Fr. Stone resigned in October 1859. During the interval between his resignation and the arrival of Reverend John Hobson Egar in March 1863, ,the parish languished. The congregation dwindled, the Sunday School was disbanded, and even the small frame church was lost. Upon assuming the rectorship, Fr. Egar took steps immediately to erect a building. Three lots were purchased, plans for a church to seat about 500 people were obtained and construction commenced in June of 1863.
On Sunday July 10, 1864, the first public worship in the new building was held. Work to finish and enlarge the church was resumed in July 1871 and the building in approximately its present configuration was completed in 1972.
As we were looking for the cache we got talking to a couple of men who were doing some work in the church and they offered to let us come in and see the inside of it and the 3 stained glass windows in the front of the church (see pictures) that were the original windows from the time the church was built and are worth over $250,000.00 each now. There is no rebar in the windows and they are all one piece.

Our last cache here was in a small park near the site of the Great Western Manufacturing Co. (Great Western Stove Co.). The Great Western Manufacturing Company was established in 1858 as Malson, Willson & Co., the firm consisting of A. F. Malson, E. P. Willson and P. Estes. In 1860 Mr. Malson retired, Willson & Estes continuing the business. In 1865 D. F. Fairchild purchased a third interest, and the style of the firm name became Willson, Estes & Fairchild until 1869, when John Wilson became a partner, and the present style of "Great Western Manufacturing Company" was adopted. The works of the manufacturing company are situated on the corner of Second and Choctaw streets. Over $175,000 capital is invested in them, and the annual product, consisting of flour mill machinery, stationary and portable engines, saw mills, pumps, mining machinery, iron work, water wheels, and general mill furnishings, is $300,000. They employ 175 hands, and their buildings, of brick, cover an area 625 feet square. The manufactures of the company are shipped all over the West, and large dealings are also had in portable flour mills, smut and separating machines, bolting cloth, rubber and leather belting, mill stones and mill furnishing goods of every description. Present officers of the company: E. Willson, president; John Wilson, treasurer; D. F. Fairchild, secretary.
Although the Great Western Manufacturing Company had been engaged for a number of years in the manufacture of stoves, it was not until 1875 that a separate organization, known as the Great Western Stove Company, was effected. Its officers then elected were John Wilson, president; D. F. Fairchild, vice-president; E. P. Willson, treasurer; N. H. Burt, secretary. In 1877, Mr. Fairchild sold his interest to the other partners. With this exception, the management remains unchanged.
The works at the present time occupy a footage of 96 feet on Choctaw and 300 feet on Second street, and consist of two brick foundries, 70 x 150 feet, and 70 x 110, respectively. A four story and basement brick building, 62 x 116 feet, is used for stove finishing and storage. The balance of the premises is occupied by the cupola building, blower room, iron yard, flask yard, etc. The company also occupy for storage purposes, sample room, etc., the two three-story brick stores, Nos. 205 and 207 Delaware street. They employ about 150 men, and melt from fifteen to eighteen tons of pig iron daily. Their product consists exclusively of stoves, comprising over 100 styles and sizes of cooking stoves, ranges and heating stoves. The trade of the manufactory extends over Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and New Mexico. Great Western Stoves were well known and widely used. A Great Western Pot-Bellied Stove currently is on exhibit in a museum in Alaska.

That was all the caching for the day and now we headed for the Fort Leavenworth Army Base. Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas (just north of the city of Leavenworth) in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active U.S. Army post west of the Mississippi River, in operation for over 170 years. Fort Leavenworth has been historically known as the "Intellectual Center of the Army."
During the country's westward expansion, Fort Leavenworth was a forward destination for thousands of soldiers, surveyors, immigrants, American Indians, preachers and settlers who passed through. The garrison supports the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) by managing and maintaining the home of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (CAC). CAC's mission involves leader development, collective training, Army doctrine and battle command (current and future).
Fort Leavenworth is home to the Military Corrections Complex, consisting of the United States Disciplinary Barracks, the Department of Defense's only maximum security prison, and the Midwest Regional Correctional Facility. In addition, the Fort Leavenworth Garrison supports numerous tenant organizations that directly and indirectly relate to the functions of the CAC, including the Command and General Staff College and the Foreign Military Studies Office.
The fort occupies 5,600 acres and 7,000,000 ft of space in 1,000 buildings and 1,500 quarters.
The garrison commander is a colonel reporting via IMCOM West to the Installation Management Command. The fort claims to be the "intellectual center" of the Army because much of its mission involves training. It also has a major prison.
The fort is 10 miles north of the 18th century French Fort de Cavagnal, which was the furthest west fort in Louisiana (New France). Its commandant was François Coulon de Villiers,[9] a brother to Louis Coulon de Villiers who was the only military commander to force George Washington to surrender (after revenging the murder of half brother Joseph Coulon de Jumonville while in Washington's custody that was to set off the French and Indian War).
The French abandoned the fort after ceding its territory to Louisiana (New Spain) at the conclusion of the French and Indian War.
Early American explorers on the Missouri River to visit the area of Fort de Cavagnal include Lewis and Clark on June 26–29, 1804 and Stephen Harriman Long in 1819.
The fort location had been chosen then because of its proximity to a large Kansas tribe village.
Colonel Henry Leavenworth, with the officers and men of the 3rd Infantry Regiment from Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, Missouri, established Fort Leavenworth in 1827 to be a forward base protecting the Santa Fe Trail.
Leavenworth's instructions had been:

Colonel Leavenworth of the 3d Infantry, with four companies of his regiment will ascend the Missouri and when he reaches a point on its left band near the mouth of Little Platte River and within a range of twenty miles above or below its confluence, he will select such position as in his judgment is best calculated for the site of a permanent cantonment. The spot being chosen, he will then construct with the troops of his command comfortable, though temporary quarters sufficient for the accommodation of four companies. This movement will be made as early as the convenience of the service will permit.
Leavenworth was to report that spot around the confluence on the east side of the Missouri River (near present day Farley, Missouri) would be prone to flooding and on May 8, 1827 recommended the location 20 miles (32 km) upstream on the west bank in the bluffs above the river.
The first army installation in Cantonment Leavenworth (its original name) was located on Scott Avenue, south of the Post Chapel with initial strength of 14 officers and 174 enlisted men.
The Cantonment almost immediately increased in importance as it became the eastern terminus for the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon Trail. After Indian Removal Act of 1830 attempted to remove all Indians west of the Missouri-Kansas border, the fort which is west of the border assumed even more importance. In 1832 it was renamed "Fort Leavenworth."
Between 1832 and 1834 the Rookery was built as bachelor officer quarters. The Rookery is the oldest building in Kansas and would be the office of the first territorial governor and thus the first capitol in Kansas from 1854 to 1855 when the capitol was moved to Pawnee, Kansas.
In 1836 William Clark at the fort presided over the transfer of Indian land directly across the Missouri River from the fort to the U.S. government in the Platte Purchase which involved the entire northwest corner of Missouri.
In 1839, Col. Stephen W. Kearny marched against the Cherokees with 20 companies of dragoons, the largest U.S. mounted force ever assembled. Throughout the Mexican-American War, Fort Leavenworth was the outfitting post for the Army of the West.
In 1854, Kansas Territory Governor Andrew Reeder set up executive offices on post and lived for a short time in the quarters now known as "The Rookery".
During the 1850s, troops from Ft. Leavenworth were mobilized to control the "Mormon Problem" in what became known as the Utah War.
Buffalo Soldier Monument
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Camp Lincoln was established on post as a reception and training station for Kansas volunteers. News of the approach of Confederate General Sterling Price prompted construction of Fort Sully, a series of earthworks for artillery emplacements on Hancock Hill, overlooking what is now the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery. However, Price's forces never reached Fort Leavenworth, having met defeat at Westport, which is now part of Kansas City. During its long history, the post was never subject to enemy attack.
For three decades following the war, the Army's chief mission was control of the American Indian tribes on the Western plains. Between 1865 and 1891, the Army had more than 1,000 combat engagements with Apache, Modoc, Cheyenne, Ute, Nez Perce, Comanche, Kiowa, Kickapoo and other tribes.
The Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery is one of the national cemeteries established by Abraham Lincoln on July 17, 1862. The cemetery was elevated to the new National Cemetery System within Veterans Administration in 1973. Veterans since the War of 1812 have been laid to rest in the cemetery. One veteran of the War of 1812 is the cemetery's most famous occupant, Col. Henry Leavenworth, who gave his name to the fort, the cemetery, and the town and county they are located in. Others buried in the cemetery include 10 Medal of Honor recipients, seven Confederate prisoners of war and two soldiers killed in Operation Desert Storm and one from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although there is no longer space for new burial sites, burials frequently take place for those who already have family members interred in the cemetery.
In 1866, the U.S. Congress authorized the formation of four black regiments, the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments and the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments. The 10th Cavalry Regiment was formed at Fort Leavenworth under the command of Col. Benjamin H. Grierson. Today, a monument stands at Fort Leavenworth in tribute to the "Buffalo Soldier" of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments.
The United States Disciplinary Barracks, now a maximum-security military prison, was established in 1875.
The fort's first Catholic Church was built in 1871, and was later replaced by St. Ignatius Chapel in 1889. St. Ignatius Chapel was destroyed by fire in December 2001. The first Protestant chapel, Memorial Chapel, was built by prison labor in 1878 of stone quarried on post. The round window behind the chapel's front altar was intentionally installed slightly askew by an inmate who was angry at his work boss. This chapel has brass cannon embedded in the walls at the sides of the church, and photos of many of the officers involved in the early history of the fort, including some of the Custer family.
In 1881, Gen. William T. Sherman established the School of Application for Cavalry and Infantry. That school evolved into the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
The Western Branch National Military Home ("old soldiers' home"), now called the Veterans Medical Center, or Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center Historic District was established in 1885 as part of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers system. The soldier home is closely associated with the nearby cemetery that became the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in 1973.
World War I was the first opportunity to evaluate the impact of Sherman's school. Graduates excelled in planning complex American Expeditionary Forces operations. By the end of the war, they dominated staffs throughout the AEF.
In the years between the World Wars, graduates included such officers as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley and George S. Patton. During World War II, some 19,000 officers completed various courses at Fort Leavenworth. By the end of 1943, commanders and staffs of 26 infantry, airborne and cavalry divisions had trained as teams at the school.
General Michael Joe Costello of the army of the newly formed Irish Free State attended Fort Leavenworth from 1926 to 1927, passing with such distinction that he was recommended for the US War College.
In 1946, the school was given its current name. In 1959, the college moved to the newly built J. Franklin Bell Hall on Arsenal Hill. In 1985, the Harold K. Johnson wing was added to house the Combined Arms and Services Staff School. Eisenhower Hall was dedicated in 1994. Classes for the School of Advanced Military Studies and the School for Command Preparation, as well as the Combined Arms Research Library, are located in Eisenhower Hall.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Until the early 1970s a battery of four Nike-Hercules Missiles were deployed at Bell Point on a hill on the north side of the fort.
The base is served by the Sherman Army Airfield which has a 5,905-foot (1,800 m) runway and operates under a joint agreement with the city of Leavenworth, Kansas that permits civilian aircraft to use it all hours. The airfield was inundated by the Missouri River in levee breaches during the Great Flood of 1951 and Great Flood of 1993.
We entered the base with no problem after showing my driver's license and started driving around. Our first stop was the Buffalo Soldier's Monument(see other post for that and the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks info.). Then we drove around looking at the barracks, old homes where the higher ups stay, the cemetery, old buildings, athletic fields and all the other things a small city has within its boundaries.


After we left the base we drove by the Fort Leavenworth Federal Prison. The United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth was the largest maximum security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005. It became a medium security prison in 2005.
The civilian USP Leavenworth is one of two major prisons built on the grounds of Fort Leavenworth. The United States Disciplinary Barracks is four miles north and is the sole maximum-security penal facility of the United States Military. USDB prisoners were used to build the civilian prison. The prisons operate independently of each other.
Leavenworth is one of three first generation United States Penitentiaries built in the early 1900s. Prior to its construction federal prisoners were held at state prisons. In 1895 Congress authorized the construction of the federal prison system.
The other two were Atlanta and McNeil Island (although McNeil dates to the 1870s the major expansion did not occur until the early 1900s).
The prison follows a format popularized at the Auburn Correctional Facility in New York where the cell blocks were in a large rectangular building. The rectangular building was focused on indoor group labor with a staff continually patrolling.
The Auburn system was a marked difference from the earlier Pennsylvania plan popularized at the Eastern State Penitentiary in which cell blocks radiated out from a central building (and was the original design for the nearby Disciplinary Barracks before it was torn down and replaced by a totally new prison).
St. Louis, Missouri architect firm of Eames and Young designed both Leavenworth and the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta.
Leavenworth's prison cells are back to back in the middle of the structure facing the walls. The prison's walls are 30 feet high and 3,030 feet long and enclose 22.8 acres.
Its domed main building was nicknamed the "Big Top" or "Big House." The domed Disciplinary Barracks two miles to the north was nicknamed the "Little Top" until it was torn down in 2004 and replaced with a newer structure.
The large central structure created various maintenance problems. It was nicknamed the "Hot House" because of its poor ventilation even when air conditioning is running.
The next generation was characterized by the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary built in 1931 which started a move away from a huge central castle like structure. Cell blocks are arranged in a "telephone pole" format extending out from the central building. This eliminated the mixing of prisoners of all types in the same building.
Modern federal prisons such as ADX Florence have gone to smaller buildings spread out over a compound and depend more upon electronic surveillance.
In September 2009, the prison population consisted of 1,899 inmates in the main building and 407 in the adjoining minimum security camp.
It is located in Leavenworth, Kansas. It is an all-male, medium-security facility committed to carrying out the judgments of the Federal Courts.
On the signs out front it says you aren't supposed to take any pictures but I snuck a few on the way by.

Then it was back to the coach for the day as it was almost 3 before we got back. Well until tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick