Lower Lake Stone Jail now defunct, and has been designated California Historical Landmark #429. Lower Lake Stone Jail Lower Lake Stone Jail, in Lower Lake, California, is a one-room jail claimed to be the smallest jail in the United States, was erected in 1876 of stone locally quarried and reinforced with iron. During the days of the first quicksilver operations of the Sulphur Bank Mine, lasting from 1873 to 1883, rapid town growth and the urgent need for civil order necessitated the building of a jail. Stephen Nicolai, one of the first stonemasons in Lower Lake, built the jail from local materials with the
Lower Lake, California down from 1,755 at the 2000 census. The Clayton Fire started on August 12, 2016 in areas of Lake County not burned in the Valley and Rocky Point Jerusalem Fires which ravaged Lake County in the summer of 2015. On Sunday afternoon, August 14, all residents of the town were evacuated and fire razed large parts of the downtown and other areas of Lower Lake. The historic Lower Lake Stone Jail was built in 1876 in Lower Lake, from locally quarried stone. It is claimed to be the smallest jail in the United States. The 2010 United States Census reported