In April of 1884, the Templeton City Council passed two Ordinances, #5 created the office of Town Marshal and Street Commissioner and #6 defined misdemeanors and their penalties. In order to comply with the Ordinances, the jailhouse was constructed in 1885 upon order of the city council. D. Joyce Lumber Company was awarded the bid for the building materials at $37.00 and Joseph Nutt was awarded the carpenter contract for $15.00. F. Seyller was instructed by the city council to purchase a stove for $5.00. In June of 1885, Templeton's new jailhouse was dedicated and christened "St. Peter's Castle". The jailhouse was a wooden structure approximately 8' x 12' in size with 2" x 6" boards laid flat and stacked one on another and had one door and two small windows. The jailhouse had two cells and a walkway in the middle where the stove was located. In 1896, the Marshal was instructed by the city council to buy a coal hood and fire shovel for the jail. St. Peter's Castle was originally built near the location of the current city maintenance building east of the fire station. In 1924, St. Peter's Castle was sold for $10.00 to Frank Kathmann to make way for a new municipal building that would include a council chamber, clerk's office, fire station, and a jail.
The family of Wayne "Bud" Kathmann donated St. Peter's Castle back to the city in January 2000. Volunteers moved the jailhouse from the Kathmann's residence at 103 S. 4th Avenue onto a trailer where it remained for several years.
In anticipation of Templeton's quasquicentennial in 2007, Shell Irlbeck, Rhonda Schwaller, Mary Lou Stevens and Mary Weitl became interested in restoring the town's first jailhouse. They unofficially formed the Templeton Historical Society to raise the funds needed to restore the jailhouse. The Society's first fundraising event was held on August 3, 2003 and was called "Putt'n Around Town". The event successfully raised the money needed to begin the restoration of St. Peter's Castle.
In April of 2004, the trailer that held St. Peter's Castle was backed into the old fire station and volunteers began removing the old shingles and wood cedar siding. New wood shingles were applied and the jailhouse was moved to its new home at the Water Tower Park where it was place on a 12' x 12' concrete pad. In 2004, renovations included new wood shingles and cedar siding, a new door, a fresh coat of white paint to the exterior, and a wood floor. In 2005, renovations resumed bringing electricity to the building, jail bunks, bar cells, the locks for the bar cells were fabricated using the original jailhouse key, a brick chimney, and landscaping. An engraved personalized brick walkway leading up to the jail was laid reflective of present and past businesses and families in the Templeton community.
St. Peter's Castle has become the perfect place to display old photographs, newspaper articles, and other items of historic value. It's a place to remember the past and preserve it for future generations.
St. Peter's Castle would not have become a reality if not for the tireless efforts of a core group of volunteers that donated their time and talents to renovating a piece of Templeton's past and hats off to the Kathmann Family for donating the jailhouse back to the city.
