Hello, On the web site for the "Center for Lowell History," I went to the Special Collections page, and it mentions that they have some diaries from a "Sheriff." http://library.uml.edu/clh/Collect.Html Bancroft Collection Jefferson Bancroft was the mayor of the City of Lowell in the 1840s. He served as Sheriff during much of the mid 1800s. This collection contains Bancroft's personal and business correspondence. In addition, there are a large number of Sheriff's records including foreclosures, auctions, and other legal actions. I was wondering if anyone had ever looked at the information to see if there was data about when jails were built, etc. It would also be interesting to see when the first, official "Police Stations" were built in the Greater Lowell area. One of the last pages in the General section of the "History of Billerica" is information on the 1880 census, where "The occupations of the people are thus reported: ... Men: Clergymen, lawyer, physician, actor, teacher, chemist, domestic, nurse, boarding-house keeper, dealer in fish, butcher, grocer, store-clerk, RR employee, teamster, telegraph employee, salesman, peddler, milkmen, merchants-lumber, drugs/medicine, manufacturing-official, insurance-official, agent, gardener, farm-laborers, farmers, stock-herder, hostlers, florest, logwood-mill, chemical-works, pianomaker, building-mover, gluemaker, machinist, shoemaker, printer, painter, mason, carpenters, cabinetmakers, blacksmiths, baker, woolen-mill-operative, wheelwright, upholsterer, paperhanger, marble and stone cutters, iron-foundry-operative, gold and silver worker, dyers, bleachers and scourers, building and contractor, brass founder/worker, medical student, apprentice, engineer, manufacturers, laborers....." No mention at all about "police" or "jailkeepers." .. Does anyone have "the History of Middlesex County" and could look to see if it mentions when the first jails were built? By the way, we drove through Cambridge and Boston the other day and discovered the old "Charles Street Jail" has been literally "emptied out." My friend thinks that they are probably going to make Condos out of that building, too ! (His former church in Cambridgeport will become "Condos" within the next few years.) And, a long-standing "Long's Funeral Home" in the Porter Square part of Somerville .. has just been transformed into what appear to be "office Condos." Betty (near Lowell, MA) P.S. The church in Lowell which was originally known as St. Jean-Baptiste .. will probably become Condos within the next few years !