Go anywhere in the world and tell people you are from Leavenworth and you will probably hear, “When did you get out?” Known primarily as the home of a United States penitentiary, most people do not know it is much more than that. It is a town rich in history. It is home to the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Lansing Correctional Facility, and the Corrections Corporation of America, Leavenworth Detention Center, run by U.S. marshals. Leavenworth is also the original home of the buck knife, C. W. Parker Carousel and amusements, and famed frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody. Fort Leavenworth supplied early settlers heading west and served as the starting point for exploration of the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. It provided protection for fur traders from the incursions of Native Americans. Gen. George Armstrong Custer and his famed seventh cavalry were frequent visitors. It is home to the Command and General Staff College, the place where generals are made. And it is the final resting place and hallowed ground of American military men and women who have given their all.
Col. Henry H. Leavenworth and members of the Third U.S. Infantry ascended the Missouri River in 1827 in search of land suitable for a permanent cantonment. After much exploration of the eastern side of the river, it was determined there was no suitable land for a military post. Leavenworth located land on the western side of the river that was quite suitable, 20 miles further up the river. On September 19, 1827, official approval was granted and Cantonment Leavenworth was born. Under direction of the secretary of war, the name was changed to Fort Leavenworth in February 1832.
The city of Leavenworth was established in 1854 and 10 years later construction began on the Kansas State Penitentiary. In 1874, the U.S. Department of War established the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. In 1891, Congress approved the Three Prisons Act, which called for the construction of three prisons, one each in the East, the West, and the South. On July 1, 1895, over vigorous protest by the Department of War, Congress directed the transfer of the military prison to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth was born.
Construction began on the new institution located on the southwest edge of Fort Leavenworth in March 1897. For the next 30 years, inmates worked from sun up to late afternoon seven days a week in all types of weather constructing their new home. Early guards were along side to insure an honest day’s work. The rules for guards were almost as stringent as those for the inmates. Day after day, brick by brick, the institution began to take shape. Along the way, escapes, riots, and minor disturbances slowed things down, but they never stopped progress. In 1903, the first 400 inmates were moved into a temporary dormitory located inside what would become the laundry building. The last of the inmates were moved in January 1906, and the military prison was returned to the Department of War.
As construction progressed, onlookers stood along Metropolitan Avenue and gazed. Early photographers in Leavenworth, such as E. E. Henry, the Stevensons, and P. L. Huckins, recorded daily progress with each flash of their shutters. Newspapers and magazines provided vivid details of the events as they unfolded. Souvenirs began to appear. Postcards, plates, and even sterling silver spoons were hocked in an almost circuslike fashion. All the while, the legend of Leavenworth grew.
As decade after decade passed, inmates came and went, including train robbers, businessmen, gangsters, serial killers, counterfeiters, assassins, hit men, those involved in organized crime, labor leaders, government officials, gang members, and international terrorists. The most notorious became synonymous with the legend of the institution.
As with any prison, there was tragedy. Twelve members of Leavenworth’s family have made the ultimate sacrifice, seven at the hands of inmates and the other five in institution accidents. Leavenworth has lost more officers than any other institution in the history of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The families of the fallen are always on our minds and in our hearts.
For the past 110 years, U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth has been home to the country’s most vicious of criminals. It has also been home to one of the most professional correctional forces ever assembled. Many authors have tried to explain what it is like to live and work in America’s most recognizable prison, but if the written word paints a picture, then the photograph should tell a story.