Before becoming a museum, the building served as the county jail for seventy years, the site for one man's hanging in 1924. The gallows and several jail cells remain intact. The fully carpeted building is also home to hundreds of by-gone era artifacts, automobiles, Northern Plains Indians crafts, and a model of once-nearby Fort Ellis, complete with description. A full-size, hand-hewn log cabin also provides insight into the cramped lives led by early area settlers.