Crown Point Jail

Made famous by John Dillinger.

While exhibiting at a number of art festivals on the Court house lawn in Crown Point, Indiana, I found that one of the local landmarks, was the old jail across the street.  I eventually created a painting of the jail, one of four from Crown Point.

John Dillinger, during a bank robbery in Chicago shot and killed a police officer and was captured in Tucson, Arizona and taken to the Lake County Jail, in Crown Point, Indiana.  Early morning, on March 3, 1934, Dillinger had carved a gun either from a bar of soap, or a wooden washboard, (Local legend varies), covering it with black shoe polish.  Using it in his escape, an automatic gun was taken from a jail guard, as he made his escape.

On July 23, 1934, Dillinger was shot and killed by the FBI outside the Biograph Theater, in Chicago.

The painting became quite a conversation piece.

Other Crown Point paintings are: Carnegie Library, Lake County Court house and The Criminal Justice Building.