By off the beaten path, I am referring to State Highway 36- which John and I concentrated on during our trip to northwest Missouri. South of that highway, we visited the town of Gallatin, on state highway 6. John had read about a squirrel cage jail, one of three such jails left in our nation. This jail was built in 1889 and used until 1975.
The jail consists of three levels,cage-like cylinders that can rotate like a Lazy Susan,with each containing 10 pie-shaped cells. There is just one way out,so a single jailer could guard all the prisoners. The jail was not opened for tours when we were there, but later after returning home,we learned more about that particular kind of jail in the Post Dispatch newspaper. The article was concerning the attractions of Council Bluffs,Iowa- one of which is a squirrel cage jail built in 1885 and in use until 1969.
The town of Excelsior Springs was the western-most town on our trip and, as Gallatin, not on state Highway 36. Excelsior Springs is actually part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. We drove around the town looking for any signs directing us to one of the town's springs. Unfortunately we had not done our homework for this town, so wandered around it for a time looking for any signs to springs. Found none, only a pretty gazebo with wooden benches and a concrete round table in its middle- possibly some springs boarded up. Then we drove past a tall building with the words on it " Hall of Waters". That looked promising. We drove around the building to the front side of it.
I eagerly jumped out of the car to see if the building was opened. No, it had closed at 4:45- which was the current time. We did look at the historical marker in front of the building, which answered some of our questions about the springs. The building is the site of the original springs, as well as city hall. It has the " world's longest mineral bar as well as a health spa". My research later, upon returning home, revealed that the town at one time had about 20 springs, some of which contained a variety of different minerals. There once was a bottling company in the Hall of Waters, which went bankrupt in 1967. In 2003 the town bought licensed rights to that company. That was all we had found in the town of Excelsior Springs, other than some beautiful murals.
