Historical society’s newest staff aim to share local history with a new generation
Corinne Peterson and Holly Marsh led this year’s Squirrel Cage Jail flashlight tours and are planning outreach to schools and younger residents
The lights went out at the Squirrel Cage Jail on Friday and Saturday nights in October as visitors made their way through the historic building by black light for the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County’s annual flashlight tours. The tours, which ran from 8 to 10:30 p.m., mixed a traditional history tour with a haunted house. Groups of six to eight followed glowing arrows on the floor and found tour guides stationed around the darkened jail, each marked by a glow stick, while passing a few frights along the way. “When the jail was built, they didn’t plan for ghost tours,” said Corinne Peterson, one of two staff members who organized this year’s event. Peterson and co-worker Holly Marsh both joined the historical society this year and began planning the tours in August. Both said they were nervous at first but came to look forward to the event each week. A group of high school volunteers helped staff the tours, and several of them asked afterward how they could keep volunteering through the year.
The flashlight tours have ended for the season, but the jail at 226 Pearl St. remains open for regular daytime tours. From November through March, it is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors 60 and older and $5 for children ages 6 to 12. Children 5 and younger and historical society members are admitted free. Peterson said many flashlight-tour visitors told her they planned to come back during the day to see the jail in full. Marsh, an archaeologist who works with the society’s archives, said the jail’s records contain plenty of surprises, including a newspaper account of an inmate who had bombs in the jail and the arrest of a 12-year-old for shooting chickens. Some charges, such as adultery, are no longer crimes, she said, but they show what the community valued at the time.
Neither woman grew up in Council Bluffs. Peterson was raised in Omaha and said she sees the two cities as sharing one history. She said teaching middle school students in Germany about the United States made her proud of where she came from and led her to want to share local history at home. “It’s not just mine and Holly’s history or the historical society’s history,” she said. “It’s our community’s history.” Marsh, a native of Indiana, said she had long known of a rotary jail in her home state and was drawn to the chance to work in one of the few still standing. “I love thinking the fact that I am standing in a place history once took,” she said.
Reaching younger people is a priority for the coming years. The society has started a TikTok account, is working to expand school field trip programs and recently helped a local children’s author publish a book about a black squirrel who learns Council Bluffs history. The society’s next “Sip and Learn” program, featuring Brian Mainwaring on local athletes, is set for 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at Barley’s, 114 W. Broadway, and is free. The annual Historic Homes for the Holidays tour, which opens decorated historic homes to visitors, will be held Dec. 6.
