A few years after the Isabella County Courthouse was built, the county jail was erected on the courthouse square, and Sanborn Insurance maps for 1884 show the jail at this location. In a postcard view dating from 1908, the camera faces northwest from Court Street, with the sheriff's office and jail to the left and his residence to the right. Citizens came to the jail for various reasons, including applying at the sheriff's office for a Michigan driver's license if they were residents of Isabella County before a branch office of the Secretary of State was established. In 1961 a new jail was built just north of the earlier one, and after it was completed the old red brick jail was demolished. Later additions to the 1961 jail extended southward so that the present jail completely covers the site shown in the postcard.