Bear Lake Jailhouse
Soon after pioneers came to the valley in 1868, the first jailhouse was built in Paris on the Courthouse property. It became home for the local drunks and any horse thief. As the State Marshals rode the train into town to prosecute the polygamist, the local conductors gave a special toot so all polygamists fled to the hills. Needless to say the marshals were never able to put them in jail.
The old jail has 4 8"X8" small air windows with the original bars. The construction is very unique as it is solid wood 2x8's stacked on top of each other. Also rebar is all through the walls. It also has a tin ceiling, its walls are 10 inches thick made out of ruff sawed lumber. Thousands of antique nail spikes hold it together. The ceiling and walls are solid stacked 2X10s. The burn marks are where someone tried to burn their way out. This jail was in use at the time Butch Cassidy robbed the Montpelier Bank. If he had been caught he would have been put in the local jail.
In 1965 the Jail was sold and moved to its current location in St Charles on North Beach Road, 10 minutes from its original spot. It was used as an abstract company for a few years, then used as a craft store. It was also used for storage for the old Bundies Hamburger stand on the corner of Highway 89 and North Beach Road.
In 2006 Dave and Vanessa Longfellow bought the old jail house and started the Jailhouse Antique Store. Each year they added and improved it by first adding the 16 large storage units. In 2011 they put in water and sewer in for North Beach Road. This had not been done because of the high cost and had stopped any growth in the area. The large jail bars in the store come from "The Salt City Jail", a restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah that closed a few years ago.
In 2012 Tony and Alisha Crowson who run Cooper's Restaurant in Bear Lake West, joined North Beach Shops, opening there second location. In 2013 Dave added the newest addition to North Beach, with the seven bright colored Old Town Tourist Shops.