The original jail cell where John Dillinger was held — and from which his gang broke him out, killing the sheriff — is on display here.
620 W Market St, Lima, OH 45801
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
General admission fee; check website for current pricing
Access
Wheelchair OK
Museum building; paved access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1933 · Site of October 12 1933 Dillinger jailbreak · Murder of Sheriff Jess Sarber · Event that triggered Dillinger's FBI Most Wanted designation · Original jail cell preserved and displayed since 2000
On October 12, 1933, a car carrying several members of John Dillinger's gang pulled up to the Allen County Jail in Lima, Ohio. The men entered the building and told Sheriff Jess Sarber they were from the Indiana State Prison. When Sarber asked to see their credentials and reached for his key ring, one of the gang members drew a gun and shot him. Sarber died of his wounds later that evening. The gang retrieved Dillinger from his cell and left Lima without further confrontation.
The jailbreak was a turning point in the Dillinger case. The murder of a sitting sheriff in the course of a prison break drew immediate national attention, and the incident contributed directly to J. Edgar Hoover's decision to prioritize the Dillinger manhunt. Dillinger was shot and killed by FBI agents outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago on July 22, 1934 — less than a year after the Lima breakout.
The original jail cell where Dillinger was held was transferred to the Allen County Museum in 2000, where it remains on permanent display. The exhibit includes wax figures of both Dillinger and Sheriff Sarber, reconstructing the circumstances of the 1933 events for visitors. The museum's broader collection documents Allen County history from settlement through the industrial era.
Sources
The appeal of the Allen County Museum's Dillinger exhibit is its physical authenticity: the actual cell, the actual crime scene, placed within a documented historical event. This is true-crime tourism rather than ghost hunting, though the two are not mutually exclusive for visitors drawn to Lima specifically because a sheriff was murdered there in 1933.
Sheriff Jess Sarber's death is the kind of specific, verifiable event that anchors a site's dark reputation on solid ground. The wax figure installation reconstructs the confrontation in a form that communicates the drama of the event without requiring fabrication. For dark tourism visitors, the combination of the original cell, the documented murder, and the presence of wax figures provides a tactile connection to one of Depression-era America's most publicized criminal cases.
Roadside America has featured the exhibit as one of Ohio's notable offbeat destinations, and the museum consistently draws visitors from outside Lima specifically to see the Dillinger cell.
Notable Entities
The original Allen County Jail cell that held John Dillinger in 1933 is on permanent display inside the Allen County Museum, accompanied by wax figures of Dillinger and Sheriff Jess Sarber, who was shot and killed during the October 12 breakout. The museum also holds extensive Allen County historical collections.
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