1839 $20,000 was appropriated to buld a prison
1840 Twelve convicts sentenced to ISP - Seven escaped
1841 Prison completed at a cost of $55,933
1846 Iowa becomes a state
1846 Warden Cohick was first Leasee of prison labor
1847 Wooden fence bult to enclose the prison
1850 Addition built to Cell House 17
1850 Manufacture and sale of cooperage was instituted
(Cooperage - the making and repairing of barrels)
1853 New contract of prison labor - manufacturing of wagons, buggies, harness, saddletrees.
1854 A stone wall was started to replace the wood fence - there were now 35 prisoners
1855 August - Workshops were destroyed by fire
1857 Legislation was passed giving a reduction of time for "Good Behavior" - still in effect today
1859 The stone wall was competed
1860 Corporal punishment (lashing and other instruments) was abolished by Warden Martin Heisey
1861 Prison Library was built - held 400 volumes
1866 $18,000 was appropriated to build a warehouse, kitchen, and to put lights in the inmates cells
1869 A Sunday School was established
1872 Gas fictures was installed for lighing
1872 Death Penalty was abolished
1873 Twenty inmates were dispatched to Anamosa to begin construction of an additional penitentiary
1877 A Warden's House built of brick, turnkey, and hospital were added
1880 The first power plant was built
1890 The first section of the Administration Building was completed
1906 A new hospital and the first educationa school were added
1911 Cell House 19 construction was begun
1915 Contract labor was abolished
1920 Cell house 17 was renovated
1922 The first wing of present day Industries was constructed
1923 Cell House 18 Construction was started
1926 The second wing of present day Industries is built
1930 Cell House 20 construction is begun
1932 The present day dining hall and thir wing of Industries was constructed. Seven acres was added and a stone wall constructed around this new addition
1935 The first prison store was started
1941 Present day power house was constructed
1947 A Canteen bulding was added
1950 Iowa State Industries was established
1951 First permanent automotive school was established by Ford Motor Co.
1957 Feightner Hospital was added
1959 Braille program was instituted - ISP had the first convict to become a certified braille transcriber awarded by the Library of Congress
1963 The Administrative Building was completed
1965 Death Penalty was abolished in Iowa
1965 The John Bennett Medium Security Dormitory was constructed
1972 The Gymnasium/Vocational School was added
1981 Unitization and cell house remodeling was started
1982 Construction was begun on a new Health Care/Visting Center