As populations increased and villages began to expand, communities faced the problem of how to confine lawbreakers who needed to be incarcerated for short periods. Built about 1865 in Edgerton, Ohio, this jail served as a temporary holding facility until a prisoner stood trial or was transferred to the county jail. It remained in use until a new town hall containing a jail was completed in 1885. Its construction was unusual: the walls were made of 2 by 4 boards cut from native oak, stacked flat and fastened with 6-inch spikes securing each board to the one below it. Each window was secured with hand-forged iron bars, and the twelve-by-fourteen-foot jail contained two holding cells.