A prison town that turned the page

Jackson has lived with prisons for almost as long as Michigan has been a state. The very first state prison opened here in 1838, and in the years after, its inmates’ labor helped build up the city’s early factories. As the prison grew it ran out of room downtown, so in the 1920s the state built a huge new one just north of the city — a place that became famous as the largest walled prison in the world.

The old downtown prison didn’t get torn down, though. After a long stretch as a National Guard armory, the historic site was reborn as the Armory Arts Village: artists now live and work in lofts inside the old prison buildings, alongside galleries, studios, and a farmers market. It’s a striking second life for a place with such a heavy past. If you want the full story — the wardens, the inmates, the famous escapes — the Ella Sharp Museum in town keeps Jackson’s prison history alive through its exhibits.