Photos and brief story by Art G. Valenzuela

THE MUSEUM (which is officially the Gregoria M. Rivera Memorial Library) used to be an old municipal jail that was constructed in 1657 as mentioned in the commemorative marker.

The Ilocanos of old must have been giving the Spanish authorities a lot of problems back then that they erected a jail which was quite large for a town at that time. The building was later transformed into a provincial jail for Ilocos Sur in 1818.

Former Philippine president Elpidio Quirino was born in this building when his father was the warden. I would assume that the warden had a separate quarter somewhere which also served as a residence.

You will see a photo in this album that shows the apparent durability of the iron bars that were used to isolate the inmates.

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