Clay County was settled in 1857. When soldiers withdrew during the Civil War, Indian attacks forced out settlers, who didn’t return until the early 1870s, setting up Henrietta as the county seat. In 1884 the county built a redbrick-and-sandstone courthouse and in 1890 built a large jail. The domed courthouse remains and, a block away, so does the jail, now a museum and heritage center. The original cells and a never-used gallows depict the austere life of an inmate. The refurbished sheriff’s living quarters show life on the other side of the bars.