HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY
CHAPTER XV.
OHIO REFORM SCHOOL.
The first action looking towards the establishment in Ohio of a reform school for boys, took place in session of the legislature for 1857. James Monroe, member from Oberlin, introduced a bill providing for an appropriation of $l,000 to defray the expenses of commissioners, to inquire into and examine existing institutions. The bill was not passed. The suggestions made by Charles Remelin of Cincinnati, upon his return from Europe, where he spent some time in the examination of reformatory institutions for youth, gave the first effective impetus to the project in Ohio. In 1858 an appropriation was voted, commissioners appointed, and a site purchased. Cheap log buildings were forthwith erected and fitted for occupancy, and on the 30th day of January, 1858 ten boys were brought from the House of Refuge of Cincinnati, and placed there. The general management of the Reform Farm was, by law, vested in three commissioners, one of whom, Geo. E. Howe, was constituted acting commissioner, who with his family, resided on the farm. In the acting commissioner was lodged the duties of general superintendent, purchasing agent, disbursing agent, stewart, and bookkeeper. He also had the power of appointing and discharging all subordinates, subject to the concurrence of his associates. The law also provided for an assistant superintendent ; and James G. Randall was appointed. Mrs. Howe, wife of the acting commissioner, was appointed matron, and Mrs. Sarah Randall, wife of assistant superintendent, assistant matron. Mr. Howe held the position of acting commissioner from the beginning until the spring of 1878, in all, nine years. Mrs. Howe was matron during the time. Mr. and Mrs. Randall have also held their positions from their first appointment, and are still acting. During the session of the Legislature of the winter of 1878, a new Act was passed, reorganizing the benevolent institutions of the State. The Act provided for the appointment, by the Governor, of five trustees, to take the place of the three commissioners. These trustees were vested with the duty of electing one superintendent and matron, outside of the board of trustees; also, an assistant superintendent and matron. At the first meeting of the board of trustees, John C. Hite, of Lancaster, was elected superintendent, and Mrs. Hite, matron. Mr. and Mrs. Randall were, at the same time, elected assistants. At the end of one year, viz : in the spring of 1879, Col. G. S. Innis, of Columbus, was elected superintendent, vice J. C. Hite, and Mrs. Innis, matron. In the spring of 1880, Charles Douglass, of Toledo, was elected superintendent, and Mrs. Douglass, matron, Mr. and Mrs. Randall being annually continued.99
The same act of reorganization also provided for the appointment of a secretary and steward. Mr. Berry, of Cincinnati, was appointed secretary, and William Van Hyde, of Lancaster, steward. Subsequently, the functions of the secretary and steward were consolidated, and Mr. Berry filled both positions until his resignation, in the spring of 1880. At the annual election of that spring, C. M. L. Wiseman, of Lancaster, was elected secretary and steward. A further Act of the Legislature, supplementing the reorganizing Act of 1878, provided for the annual appointment of one trustee, as the terms of the incumbents respectively expired, in such manner, that the board should consist of four members, with the acting Governor of the State as the fifth member, but only to act when a deciding vote became necessary; and further, that said board of four trustees should be so appointed as to consist perpetually of two Democrats and two Republicans. The Ohio Reform Farm consists of 1170 acres, and is situated six miles from Lancaster, a little south of southwest. The surface is exceedingly rugged in some of its parts, being cut with sharp ravines, with out-cropping sandrock. The soil, for the most part, is poor, being mixed all over the farm with the grindings of the old red sandstone, which underlies the entire surface. The timber is chestnut, white and pitch pine, scrubby oak of several varieties, laurel, and whortleberry. There are some belts of fair soil. The hill slopes are well adapted to grape and peach growing, while the upper tablelands have been recovered, and are used for gardening and vegetables generally. Very little grass can be produced on the farm ; in dry seasons, not even green pasturage, sufficient for the few cattle that are required. The poorest of the hills produce nothing but ferns, whortleberry, and a few scrubby bushes. Small quantities of wheat and oats can be produced. Peaches, as a rule, have done well, as also strawberries and blackberries. Both of these have received considerable attention. In 1880, there were 30 acres of gardening, 8,000 peach trees, and besides, about 400 acres of tillable ground. Apples are produced in considerable quantities. The highest surfaces are about six hundred feet above low water in the Hocking, four or five miles east, and about five hundred above the site of Lancaster. The farm is reached, from Lancaster, over a good summer road, along pine-covered ridges, that, in warm days, make the air redolent with resinous exhalations, and presenting to the eye, on either hand, stretching off in the distance, romantic scenery, nowhere surpassed in Ohio. From its elevated position, the air is healthful and bracing in summer. From a very humble beginning, in January, 1858, when ten boys were brought from Cincinnati, and placed in the first rude wooden buildings erected, the farm has grown into a place of gigantic propor- tions and beauty. The idea seems to have been popular from the start. Soon other boys were brought, and the need of more room became apparent. The attention of the Legislature was awakened, and ample appro- priations were not wanting. The log structures soon disappeared, and fine, brick buildings took their place.100
The main building is 161 feet in length, with projections. It contains offices, reception rooms, parlors, dining rooms, residences, guest rooms, storage rooms, council chamber, and telegraph office. The kitchen, culinary department, and boys' dining rooms, are all in projections of the main building. This is situated centrally, with regard to the other buildings. What are denominated family buildings are two story bricks, with basement story. The basement is the wash room and play place for the boys ; the second story is the school room, and apartments of the elder brother and his family ; the third story is the sleeping apartment for boys. There are nine of these family buildings, besides union family buildings. The other buildings of the farm are; first, the chapel; then shops, laundry, and wash house, water tower, bake house, engine house, stables, hot houses, coal houses, hospital, ice house, mending room, knitting room, piggery, and chamber of reflection, besides many other out-buildings. The buildings are disposed in squares, more or less spaced, and altogether occupy an area of probably twenty acres. The Ohio building, which is the home of the small boys of ten years and under, is isolated from the others, and stands off nearly a mile to the east, and is in connection with the chapel and main grounds by a good plank walk. The grounds are laid off with gravel drives and plank walks, and are beautifully decorated with evergreen trees, arbors, flower houses, and grass lawns. The family buildings are named after rivers in Ohio, thus: Mus- kingum, Ohio, Hocking, Scioto, Cuyahoga, Huron, Maumee, Miami, and Erie. The family of boys of each building take the family name after the building, as the Maumee family, Muskingum family, Hocking family, etc. In the incipient state of the school, some discrepancy of opinion existed in regard to modes of discipline. By some it was proposed to adopt the House of Refuge plan, in part, in connection with the open system. The latter was adopted. The time of the boys is divided between work of some kind, school, and recreation, Every boy is half the day in school, and the other half at work. There is an hour for dinner. Recreations are taken after supper, on Saturday afternoons, sometimes, and on holidays. Each family is under the management of an officer, denominated the elder brother, whose wife, with few exceptions, is the teacher. The branches taught are those of a common school English education. Within the last three years, a grammar school department has been added. The boys are held to close and rigid discipline, but treated with uniform kindness and trust, whenever trust can be extended. One of the leading features of the discipline is to inspire the inmates with the ambition of earning a good reputation, and trustworthiness. In many instances, boys are permitted the freedom of coming and going, and even to transact business. Corporal punishment is only resorted to in extreme cases, and is always with the rod. A lock-up is provided for the most incorrigible, and is denominated the "chamber of reflection." Here, those condemned to this mode of discipline, are left to solitary confinement, until they are willing to make proper confession of their wrong doing, and promise of amendment. In a few instances,101
the chain and ball have been found necessary to restrain the vicious, or to prevent escapes. A constant care is observed to prevent escapes by running away, but numerous escapes have taken place notwithstanding. The boy who escapes, and is returned, loses credit on his good conduct, the effect of which is to protract the time of his detention. Credit is given for merit, and good boys work themselves out in shortened time. No specified time is fixed in the commitment. The time is left to the superintendent, and depends very much on the conduct of the boy. The State pays five dollars each for the return of runaway boys. In addition to school education and manual labor on the farm, mechanical branches are also taught. The institution has a shoe and boot manufacturing establishment, a brush factory, a tailor shop, a cane-seat making department, and a telegraph office. Several good telegraph operators have left the farm, and are doing well. Other mechanical trades have been learned there, that have been highly creditable to the institution, and greatly advantageous to the boys. It is one of the cares of the management to find homes for such boys, on their discharge, as have no home to go to, and this duty is always carefully carried out. Boys under sixteen years of age, who commit penitentiary crimes, are usually sent to the Reform Farm ; and some, who have been sentenced to the state's prison, have been commuted to the farm. There is a hospital, for the sick, always provided with competent nurses ; and it is the duty of the matron to visit the hospital in person, as often as may be necessary, to see that all is right, and that the wants of the sick are properly attended to. A physician is appointed especially for the inmates, who resides in Lancaster, and can be called at any hour. But this does not prevent the right of parents, or others, from employing physicians of their preference to attend their sick boys, at their own expense. Religious services are held in the chapel every Sabbath. This has, for the most part, been done by the clergy of Lancaster, by alternation, and for a compensation of five dollars for each visit. A Catholic priest visits the farm, at stated periods, for the instruction of Catholic boys. During the summer of 1880, a stated pastor was arranged for, and settled at the farm, but who, after a few months residence, resigned. A Sabbath school is maintained, at which all the boys are required to attend, Catholics as well as Protestants. There is, also, a library, provided by the state, for the use of the boys, and from which they draw books under regulations. The number of inmates is constantly increasing. In commissioner Howe's annual report to the governor for 1876, the number who had passed through the institution, from the beginning to date, was given at 2,019; and in superintendent Douglass' report, of the date of Nov. 15, 1880, the number received at the farm, from the first, is given at 3,170, and 514 remaining. In June, 1881, the number of inmates exceeded 550. It is the concurrent testimony of all the official reports, that a large majority of the boys, who have passed through the Reform Farm school, have turned out well. Mr. Howe gave the proportion of those who102
were discharged during his nineteen years of control, and who did well, at eighty percent. ; and superintendent Douglass, in his report of Nov. 15, 1880, gives a similar favorable account. A few have turned out badly. A complete history of the finances of the farm, from 1858 to the present, cannot be easily obtained ; nor would the specifications be important. It may suffice to say, that the present value of the farm, with all its buildings, improvements, and fixtures, exceeds half a million of dollars, and that the appropriation asked for, by the trustees, for the year ending Nov. 15, 1871, was $105,340.103