A lot of folks don”t know that years ago the Town of Shenandoah had its own jail. It was located in the old Town Hall building located at 411 Second Street. This building is still standing along with the original jail cells. Today this building houses the Shenandoah Computer Center and upstairs is the Shenandoah Police Department Office.
The 5-cell jail was housed in the back section of the building. The jail cells are still intact with bars, doors and Folger Adam keys and locks. The jail house has not been used to lock anyone up in a very, very long time. From the outside of the building there are no visible indications that a jail house is inside the building as the four outside windows have been boarded up. We would like to thank Shenandoah’s Police Officer Hensley for giving us a tour of the jail house and Chief Paul Davis for allowing us to take pictures.
This building was built about 1920 as referenced in the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form- Shenandoah Historic District. On page 68. It stated the second story apparently housed all of the town's offices at the time of its construction. "City Hall" is painted on the front elevation, directly above the second-story windows.
Various pictures can be found in the book Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People showing the Town Hall lettering on the front of this building. On page185 you can see a picture with caption Fire Department at the City Hall Building. Also in this book on page 89 it shows a picture of Clarence Foltz’s Store on Maryland Avenue with caption Clarence Foltz’s Store built on Maryland Avenue and Second Street in 1920. This spot was formerly occupied by the town jail, which was destroyed by fire. The Shenandoah General Store currently occupies this building.
In the book Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People on page 214 is a picture of Police Chief I.W. (Bud) Judd & on page 217 is a Picture with caption of The Shenandoah Police Force- Mr. Clarence Williams and Mr. I.W. (Bud) Judd. The Police Department was housed in the yard Offices on Main Street.
We know the Shenandoah Volunteer Fire Department occupied this building on Second Street up until it moved into its new building at 201 Pennsylvania Avenue in October 1968. This reference was found in the book Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People on page 187.
The Shenandoah Rescue Squad Inc was organized October 1968 and was first housed in the Old Town Hall building on Second Street. In the book Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People on page 317 you can see the letters on the front of the building, during the period the front of the building was being used as home to Shenandoah Rescue Squad & reference on page 167. On page 170 it states the Shenandoah Rescue Squad Ladies Auxiliary held their first meeting on January 17, 1975 in the newly remodeled rescue squad building.
We have referenced the book Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People multiple times. This book has 398 pages, has a bunch of pictures and details about how the Town of Shenandoah was founded. This book is still in print and can be purchased at The Shenandoah General Store at 119 Maryland Avenue in the Town of Shenandoah.
The Shenandoah General Store also sells another book about the town titled Shenandoah- The Thomas Family Collection. This book contains a total of 390 pages and contains 690 pictures taken in the town from 1954 to 2017. This book includes hundreds of never before published photographs from the Thomas Family Collection, such as: Inside Boots Lunch on First Street, Inside Verbena Lodge Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, Inside Home Grocery on Denver Avenue. Includes 30 pictures taken inside and around the Shenandoah Elementary School. It also showcases the beautiful work done over the years by the Shenandoah Beautification Committee in making our community look great and includes pictures of their first Christmas Truck that they unveiled in 2014!
This book can also be purchased at the Shenandoah Town Hall at 426 First Street.
More information about this book can be found at this link:
Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People Page 185
Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People Page 89
Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People Page 214
Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People Page 217
Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People Page 317
