Construction
of a permanent guardhouse was delayed at Fort Scott until 1845. It was
not completed until 1848. It is probable that an earlier guardhouse,
made of logs like the other first buildings, was in use prior to that
time. Built of stone, the new guardhouse had four cells, a hallway,
a guard room and a room for the Officer of the Guard. A
porch crossed the front facing the parade ground. The structure was
to see little use by the military, however, for in 1853 the post was
abandoned. In 1858, Augustus Meyers marched to Fort Scott and camped
there briefly. He mentions the townspeople, numbering about 200, and
remarks that they were occupying the old fort structures. The guardhouse
was then in use as a jail. During the Civil War, the guardhouse became
part of the U.S. Army General Hospital located at Fort Scott and a military
prison was built elsewhere in town to take over the function of the
guardhouse. It reverted to service as a city jail after the Civil War.
In 1906, it was torn down and replaced with a modern city jail and police
station. Today, the guardhouse is a reconstruction based on the plan
of Fort Scott drawn by the post quartermaster about 1848.
