Davenport Jail

The Davenport Jail is a two-room county jailhouse in Davenport, California built in 1914 and is open the second Saturday of every month from 12-3pm, from August 9th, 2025 to May 9th, 2026.

The Davenport Jail is one of the MAH's historic sites. It was originally built in 1914 as a two-room county jailhouse in Davenport, California.

Located in the old whaling village of Davenport, it was decommissioned in 1936. As a burgeoning company town that housed families who worked at the Portland Cement Company, various living necessities were erected to serve the community of Davenport as it increased in size. Given the distance to Santa Cruz and reliance on foot or horse, it would take hours for the Santa Cruz police to respond to matters raised in Davenport, and in winter, the road was entirely impassable. In 1914, a two room jailhouse was created as a means to hold people until the sheriff from Santa Cruz came.

Davenport Jail is currently hosting a year-long residency featuring Watsonville-based artist Joshua Moreno. Over the course of 365 days, Moreno will trace the movement of light through the decommissioned jail. This site-specific installation is composed of graphite tracings made directly on the walls of the jail, marking fleeting reflections cast by the surrounding environment.

Davenport Jail is open the second Saturday of every month from 12-3pm, from August 9th, 2025 to May 9th, 2026; and by appointment by emailing us at stopjoshgo@gmail.com.

Have a second? Help us out and take a survey!
Davenport Jail 33

In its entire history of being a working holding cell, only three legal prisoners were ever registered: a man who had too much to drink, and two boys from San Mateo county who stole their uncle's horse. Beyond that, incapacitated people were able to rest and recover from the night's festivities in the small jail before walking home in the morning. It was formally decommissioned in 1938, and in 1958 the county decided to sell it, for it to sit relatively vacant for years.

Now managed by the MAH, the Davenport Jail functions as an emblem of the past and a reimagined space to further explore our connection to the landscape.

70 Center Street
Davenport, CA 95017

Get Directions

Become a MAH Member
Image From Ios

Coming Soon

IMG 2040
Upcoming

Mar 12, 2027 – May 23, 2027

Underwater Forest, Inside a Carceral Ecology

Inhabiting the historic Davenport Jail, this exhibition transforms a former site of confinement into an immersive kelp forest. Through specimens collected along the local coast, artists Kalie Granier and Alex Olwal draw a powerful parallel between collapsing marine ecosystems and the restrictive nature of the prison system—replacing stasis with circulation to imagine a radical reorientation toward interdependence.

View the exhibition

More Local History

See what's on now at the MAH in Downtown Santa Cruz.

Current Exhibitions