A.G. Challis built the first plank jail in 1896 for under $400 where City Hall now stands, but it burned down on June 24, 1897, after an exuberant one-legged celebrant arrested at the Black Hills Soldiers & Sailors Reunion built a fire on an unusually cool night. Following a bank robbery on June 27, the culprits had to be transported to the Deadwood jail, prompting a decision to erect a more substantial building. The new two-story structure was built of sandstone from the Belle Fourche quarry, with quarters for the sheriff and his family on the second floor, and it still serves as the Dispatch Center and Sheriff’s Office.