Guide to the Pennsylvania Reform School Records 1857-1907

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Pennsylvania Reform School Records
Creator
Pennsylvania Reform School (Morganza, Pa.)
Collection Number
MSS 790
Extent
3 linear feet (3 boxes)
Date
1857-1907
Abstract
The Pennsylvania Reform School, established in 1859, served as a detention center for juvenile delinquents for over a hundred years. Originally located on the north shore of the Ohio River, the school relocated in 1872 to an area northeast of Canonsburg, Pa., in Washington County. The Pennsylvania Reform School Records include grade reports, school reports, committee reports and minutes, student release forms, parole requests, correspondence, financial records, and court documents.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
The guide to this collection was written by Dane Flansburgh.
Sponsor
This collection has been made accessible as part of an NHPRC-funded Basic Processing grant.
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

History

The Pennsylvania Reform School, originally the House of Refuge of Western Pennsylvania, opened in 1850 as a reform school for local delinquent children. Originally located on the north shore of the Ohio River, the school relocated in 1872 to Morganza, an area just northeast of Canonsburg, Pa., in Washington County. The new location provided ample space for its residents, with 37 buildings and 304 acres of land. The school changed its name in 1876 to the Pennsylvania Reform School.

The school was the home of youth under the age of 21, many of whom were convicted of crimes such as theft, larceny, rape, and murder. The school often applied strict discipline policies to force adherence to their rules. Students were often contracted for labor in nearby farms, and, and in the school's early days, were used as indentured workers. Inmates did run away, but were almost always caught, forced to move back, and disciplined.

In 1911, the school, attempting to remove the stigma of a "reform" school, changed its name to the Pennsylvania Industrial Training School. The school changed its name a fourth time in 1960, to the Canonsburg Youth Development Center. In 1962, a hospital for the mentally handicapped also opened its doors on the campus. The Youth Development Center was eventually phased out of existence, and the mental hospital, eventually named the Western Center, utilized some the former reformatory buildings. The Western Center closed in 2000, and the buildings were demolished in 2011.

Scope and Content Notes

The Pennsylvania Reform School Records include grade reports, school reports, committee reports and minutes, student release forms, parole requests, correspondence, financial records, and court documents.

Box one contains lists of student residents, grades and merits for each student, court records documenting the crimes that were committed by students, requests of commitment of new students on behalf of the parent, and correspondence of the superintendent, J. A. Quay, which reveals the inner workings of the school. Detailed lists of the students are a perfect resource for genealogists who had ancestors who stayed at the school.

Boxes two and three contain financial records of the institution. Box two houses salary reports, check receipts, receipts for goods and services, and account payable stubs. Box three contains account receivable receipts.

Conditions Governing Access

None.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift from Washington County Authority in 2011.

Archives accession # 2011.0213

Preferred Citation

Pennsylvania Reform School Records, 1857-1907, MSS 790 , Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center

Processing Information

Preliminary processing by Dane Flansburgh on 05-21-12.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • Pennsylvania Reform School (Morganza, Pa.)

    Geographic Names

    • Morganza (Pa.)

    Other Subjects

    • Juvenile detention--Pennsylvania

Container List