Boulder Pioneers Project

Colorado Territorial Penitentiary, Board of Managers Reports, 1871-1877: An Annotated Index of Marshals, Wardens, Guards, Board Members, Prisoners, and Local Businesses

The Colorado Territorial Penitentiary, Board of Managers Reports, 1871-1877: An Annotated Index of Marshals, Wardens, Guards, Board Members, Prisoners, and Local Businesses contains the names of the penitentiary’s first one hundred prisoners (including escapees), a physical description of the person, why they were in the penitentiary, which county sentenced them and where they were born.

In addition, the Board of Managers Reports included the services provided to the prison by local businesses, the names of each member of the Board, along with the names of US Marshals, wardens, guards, nurses and other personnel.

An inventory dated 1 Dec 1874 shows a prison (40’x70’), a guard’s sleeping apartment, a guard’s dining room and prison kitchen, the warden’s residence (brick, 6 rooms and hall, one outhouse and store house), a shoemaker’s shop (adobe with cellar), a carpenter’s show (wood 15’x20’), a blacksmith’s shop (wood 14’x17’), a stone cutter’s shop (wood, 15’x32’), two outhouses for general use, a bake oven (10’x12’), 360’ of stone embankment in front of the prison, 330’ of picket fence with 2 single gates and 1 double gate, 700’ of board fence around the garden, all on 40 acres of land.

Colorado Territorial Penitentiary, Board of Managers Reports, 1871-1877