End of another era: Site of Makee Manor expected to undergo another change as the new year begins

by Bob Beach
and Jason Meyer

The end of an era is rapidly approaching as plans to demolish the Makee Manor building north of Waukon to make way for the new Allamakee County Public Safety come closer to becoming a reality.
Having completed the asbestos abatement in the building at the end of November, the County is anticipating releasing the demolition specifications for bidding in the coming weeks and should be selecting a contractor in the first half of January 2016. The demolition is expected to take place over the course of the winter, and as spring breaks so too will ground be broken on the new construction.
With the construction drawings nearly complete, the new construction will be let for bidding shortly thereafter. Once construction starts at the site next spring, weather permitting, the Public Safety Center is expected to be built within an 11-month time-frame, with Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick anticipating February or March 2017 as a move-in time-frame for the new facility.
Change is nothing new to the site where Makee Manor currently sits. Allamakee County's first settler, Irishman Patrick Keenan from Dublin, built a log cabin there in 1848. By 1856 the land was owned by Joseph Burton, who in that year built a substantial home, 29 by 37 feet, to which he later added. Burton sold the property to the County in October of 1866 for $4,000 and the home was raised to two stories, becoming the County Home.
Tragedy struck the County Home late in January 1880 when a fire destroyed the renovated Burton home. A temporary structure was erected to house the residents until a new County Home could be built.
At a cost upwards of $5,000, a two-story brick structure, 38 by 40 feet, was built at the site in 1881 but that building too was destroyed by fire a few years later, and was then rebuilt into separate men’s and women’s dormitories. Seemingly plagued by fire, the County Home again fell victim to a blaze in 1933.
In 1935 construction on the main building of the current structure began, and was completed by the close of the decade. In 1976 the facility was expanded to its current size, and in 1997 it was remodeled.
The Allamakee County Care Facility served as a residential home for the mentally handicapped, indigent, and elderly, where they received medical care, board, and some supervision. With the County Care Facility privatizing as a non-profit corporation in 1991, adopting the name Makee Manor, it allowed the residents eligibility under Title XIX, relieving some of the financial burden from the County taxpayers.
In March of 2013, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors was informed by the Makee Manor Board of Directors that the facility would be terminating operations April 17, 2013. The Board of Supervisors made an effort to sell the facility, but eventually came to the conclusion that the building itself was more of a liability than an asset.
Meanwhile, then newly-elected Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick had informed the Board of Supervisors of shortcomings in the County Jail, located on the fourth floor of the Allamakee County Courthouse in Waukon, which would inevitably lead to the eventual closure of the jail. A consultant was hired and the Allamakee County Public Safety Center Committee, made up of volunteers representing a broad cross-section of Allamakee County residents, was formed.
After months of study, the Public Safety Center Committee determined that a new jail would need to be constructed and recommended to the Board of Supervisors that a new facility be built at the Makee Manor site. The Board of Supervisors accepted the Committee's recommendation and scheduled a bond referendum to fund the estimated $5 million cost of the project to coincide with the general election in November of 2013. That referendum narrowly failed to attract the support of the required 60% super-majority to pass, so a second special election was scheduled for May 5 of this year and the measure was approved by voters.
Since that time, the Board of Supervisors and the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Department have continued to work with consultant John Hansen of Midwest Construction Consultants to move the project forward, with the new year anticipated to bring a number of new changes to the site location. Updates will continue to be published as they become available.