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Old Scott County jail aims to become event space, destination

The city of Huntsville is looking to make the old Scott County jail a tourism and event destination.

Huntsville — Something old is looking to unlock something new for the Scott County community.

The old Scott County Jail is looking for a new purpose. It might be used for something different than holding criminals these days.

"And this ol' jail has been the county jail since 1908," Huntsville Mayor Dennis Jeffers said.

But Jeffers sees new potential for the site.

"We decided we would approach the county commission...not really having a plan for it," Jeffers said. "All the while knowing that we wanted to restore it to preserve it. Because it had fallen into pretty bad shape."

RELATED: Scott County considers old jail's future

It closed in 2008, with a lot of 1908 still inside--remnants of a rich history.

"We'd done a lot of cleaning and painting and our guys had done a lot of it, and the community involvement was unreal," Jeffers said. "And we saw a lot of donations from hardware stores--paint, cleaning supplies, so this was something that belonged to the people."

A $75,000 grant from the state allowed for renovations, making the building a great place to host events, like a Halloween haunted house and Jail-A-Thon fundraisers.

"These were the first for both, and both were highly successful," Jeffers said.

The haunted house raised around $6,000 for the Beta Club at Scott County High School, and the Jail-A-Thon raised more than $20,000 for Shop With a Cop this Christmas.

"This was the perfect venue for that," Jeffers said.

Jeffers hopes the jail keeps working to unlock more potential for the city, and entertainment groups have reached out to use the jail to make videos and other media, too.

He hopes it will be a good way to both make money and preserve history.

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