Cañon City in Fremont County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Prospect Heights Jail
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2025
1. Prospect Heights Jail Marker
Built in 1906 with native stone, the Prospect Heights jail was the only municipal building in town. It was constructed to incarcerate disorderly people who frequented the numerous area saloons.
In response to a 1901 law suspending all liquor licenses in Cañon City, the town of Prospect Heights was incorporated on May 10, 1905 by brothers Florijan, Anton, Frank, & John Adamic and 36 others to allow sales and consumption of alcohol for its residents.
Soon after the town's incorporation, railcars loaded with beer, wine and whiskey arrived on the tracks that bordered the town. Anton Adamic sold the alcohol to the home grown saloons that sprang up quickly. Unable to get a drink in Cañon City, mill workers from the nearby US Smelter Company and coal miners from the Nonac, Royal Gorge, and Wolf Park Mines flocked to the newly minted saloons.
The saloons flourished, as did crime and drunken debauchery. The town quickly elected a sheriff to maintain the peace, but there was no jail.
The town hired Ernie Sell and his father to build the jail. Ernie Sell celebrated the completion of the jail, resulting in his distinction as its first
this page online
When the US Smelter closed in 1909, the saloon's lucrative business evaporated. The final saloons were shuttered in September 1909 when the Colorado Supreme Court upheld a decision which supported community bans of alcohol sales.
The jail detained prisoners for the last time during the coal strikes which led to the Colorado Coalfield War of 1914. The town of Prospect Heights dissolved in 1990 due to a failing water system.
Erected 2025 by Al Packer Chapter 100, E Clampus Vitus and Fremont County Historical Society. (Marker Number 6030.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Law Enforcement. In addition, it is included in the E Clampus Vitus series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1906.
Location. 38° 25.619′ N, 105° 14.236′ W. Marker is in Cañon City, Colorado, in Fremont
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2025
2. Prospect Heights Jail Marker
Looking west from South 4th Street.
Regionally, this marker is in Colorado’s Arkansas River Valley and in Pikes Peak Region. It is also in the American Mountain West. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Comanchería and also the Republic of Texas.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Lakeside Cemetery Gate (approx. 0.3 miles away); Greenwood Cemetery (approx. half a mile away); Robison Mansion (approx. 0.7 miles away); Cañon City (approx. ¾ mile away); Health, Wellness ~ Entertainment (approx. ¾ mile away); The Gold Belt Tour National Scenic Byway (approx. 0.8 miles away); Lt. Zebulon Pike's Southwestern Expedition (approx. 0.8 miles away); Canon City - Bustling Center for Trade, Transportation, and Tourism
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2025
3. Sign on left side of entrance
1906
Call 720-450-7844 for further information.
Fremont County Historical Society is a Not for Profit organization dedicated to the preservation and sharing of our History and Artifacts.
Regarding Prospect Heights Jail. Added to the Colorado Register of Historic Places as Site № 5FN.1803 on March 12, 2003. It is also listed as a Fremont County Landmark in 2014.
Also see . . .
1. Prospect Heights Jail (Atlas Obscura).
Excerpt: Mine workers, seeking an advantage over the neighboring “dry” community of Cañon City incorporated the town of Prospect Heights in 1905 as a “wet” community, operating numerous saloons 24 hours a day where smelter workers, miners and other workers could “wet their whistles” after a long day. The jailhouse quickly became a necessity but was only used as a detention facility through 1913, after which is served as a performance hall, and as a storage room, before being left abandoned for many years.(Submitted on August 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)Constructed in 1906, the structure is only 22x20 feet, with exterior walls of locally quarried and cut sandstone blocks over and rubble stone foundation. It has a low slope roof, forming a parapet wall stepping downward from the front of the building. The only openings are a door and a window on the
front, covered by hinged metal bars, but the interior contains three rooms; a front office and two jail cells.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 20254. Prospect Heights Jail (northeast elevation)
2. Prospect Heights, Colorado (Wikipedia).
Excerpt: The neighborhood incorporated as a town on May 10, 1905, in response to Cañon City becoming a dry city and prohibiting saloons. Immediately upon Prospect Heights' incorporation, six or seven saloons opened. Prospect Heights endured as an incorporated town until about 1990, when its water system collapsed and the town tapped into the Cañon City water supply. At this time the incorporated town was dissolved.(Submitted on August 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)The town's jail still stands and efforts have been made to restore it as a historical landmark. The Prospect Heights jail was built in 1906 and has since been listed in the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.
3. Town of Prospect Heights, Fremont County, Colorado (Fremont County Historical Society).
Excerpt: The plan for the jail was two cells, 10 feet by 8 feet, with trimmed(Submitted on August 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)rock dividing the cells. The wall was to be 18 inches thick. Doors on each of the cells were to have sheet iron to prevent any possibility of a fire. (Instead of sheet iron doors, doors with bars were installed.) The height of the building was to be 10 feet and the total cost of the project not more than $300.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 20255. Prospect Heights Jail (northwest elevation)
The cut stones for the jail probably came from a large outcrop of yellow rock in an area known as Eagle Wing. Ernest Sell was the skilled stonemason and bricklayer who built the jail. Sell built the ceilings of both cells out of bricks in a vaulted, or barrel, shape. This design was to prevent the ceiling from collapsing because a flat ceiling of bricks would never work. The beams in the front room were "rough sawed" with a steel blade. The jail is the only stone building in Prospect Heights. The jail was furnished with a chamber pot, water bucket, a cot and a blanket in each cell. The jail never had running water or electricity. A wood or coal stove provided heat. There is also an entry in the town minutes of a lock bought for 25 cents. Another bill paid to Anton Adamic was $31.60 for furniture in the jail office. The cost forwashing a blanket was 50 cents. There is sporadic mention in the town minutes of charging a jail inmate one dollar for the first time in jail and two dollars for any additional time in jail. Inmates were not sentenced to jail by a judge, so there are no written records of who spent time in the jail. The money must have gone to the marshal.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 20256. Prospect Heights Jail (south elevation)
4. Pre-Hollywood Era Silent Western Movie Films (ColoradoInfo.com).
Excerpt: Tom Mix was a budding star when he appeared in the first of many silent Western movies filmed in the Cañon City area. After winning national riding and roping contests at Prescott, Arizona, in 1909 and Cañon City in 1910, Mix appeared in various rodeos and Wild West shows, then joined the Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago and returned to Cañon City in 1911 to make films.(Submitted on August 17, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
In addition to entertaining audiences on film, after-hours activities of Mix and his companions entertained local residents. From shooting lemons off glasses in a “Hell’s Half-Acre” saloon to escaping his angry, pistol-toting wife by hiding in a rolled-up awning atthe downtown Cañon City Elks Club (until the doorman unrolled it at dawn), Mix had plenty of adventures in the area.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 20257. Prospect Heights Jail (southeast elevation)
Mix spent many nights in the Prospect Heights Jail after a night of carousing in that town, which boasted eight bars within a two-block area immediately adjacent to Cañon City.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 17, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 14, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 131 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. submitted on August 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
