Harvard Jail

In the summer of 1943, sixteen-year-old Robert Pinckney wanted to plant a Victory Garden in his hometown of Harvard, Nebraska. These small gardens produced vegetables and herbs to increase agricultural output and make more food available for Allied soldiers overseas. That year, the city was selling off patches of unoccupied real estate around the city for $1.50 a piece in a delinquent tax sale. As he reviewed his options for his garden, Pinckney noticed something unusual. One of the listings was already occupied by the now 130-year-old county jail.

Knowing that a mistake must have been made, Pinckney took this concerns to the city council. Perhaps owing to his age, he was repeatedly ignored. Following several attempts to dissuade city leaders from selling the county jail for $1.50, Pinckney decided that there was only way to prove that he was correct. So for $1.50, sixteen-year-old Robert Pinckney bought the land upon which the county jail had been built. After the sale, however, the city council still refused to acknowledge that a mistake had been made so Robert decided to exercise his rights as landlord. One morning when the local police went to put a criminal in the jail, they found that Pinckney had placed a lock on the door. The city responded with threats, so Pinckney hired a lawyer and sued the city of Harvard.

After threatening to tear down the jail building, the lawyer managed to get the city to begin to pay rent of $20 a month to Pinckney for the jail. During this ordeal, Pinckney’s father, who had been recently hired as city physician, was quietly fired by the city in retaliation for his son’s troublemaking. The city eventually agreed to buy back the piece of property. However, due to the fact Robert was underage at that time, the law prohibited him as a minor from transferring the deeding it to anyone until he reached the age of 21.

By this time, the story of the small-town legal battle was breaking in national media publications thanks to an Associated Press wire story and Time Magazine. Pinckney was soon inspired by a letter he received from a wounded solider who read about his real estate saga while he was recovering in Los Angeles at the time. In the letter, the soldier encouraged Pinckney to use the opportunity to fundraise for the war effort by selling the property. Pinckney loved the idea and travelled out to Los Angeles, where he used his publicity to create a war drive auction with the highest contributor securing rights to the now-famous jail.

Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist known for his widely popular dummy, Charlie McCarthy, had been following the story. When Bergen heard of the auction, he worked to sell $10,000 in war bonds under Charlie McCarthy’s name. The bonds helped to finance the construction of a naval ship, and true to his word, Pinckney transferred his Nebraska deed to the ventriloquist prop Charlie McCarthy. The dummy technically owned the jail for several years. After the media attention faded, the wooden ventriloquist’s dummy quietly donated the property back to the city.

From 2008 to 2010, the jail war restored and local historian Dr. Don Gerlach worked to have a historical marker placed at the site of the jail. The marker offers a brief summary of the jail’s comical history to any curious passerby. 

Lefevers, Delana. This Tiny Jail In Nebraska Has The Most Bizarre History You’ve Ever Heard, Only In Your State. January 27th 2019. Accessed October 5th 2020. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/nebraska/tiny-jail-bizarre-history-ne/.

Patowary, Kaushik. The Jailhouse That Got Accidentally Sold, Amusing Planet. June 30th 2020. Accessed October 5th 2020. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2020/06/the-jailhouse-that-got-accidentally-sold.html.

Vanderford, Jon. The Old Harvard Jail, 1011 Now. September 2nd 2020. Accessed October 5th 2020. https://www.1011now.com/2020/09/02/the-old-harvard-jail/.