In 1912, Los Angeles businessman Fred C. Nelles became superintendent of the Whittier State School and shifted its focus from correction to reform and re-socialization, leading to the abolition of corporal punishment in 1913. He modernized administration by introducing individualized treatment, an honor system, and mental health treatment. Believing that each child in the juvenile system needed individual attention and proper guidance, he established the Cottage System, housing about 50 wards of similar ages together in several cottages supervised by husband-and-wife teams and assisted by ancillary staff to create a nurturing home environment supported by the period's architecture. Under the honor system, boys were trusted to follow rules or face social consequences and loss of privileges; those who offended were sent to the Lost Privilege Cottage, where they received regular meals and routine work but could not talk to others or join group activities or sports. Among his other major achievements were research in juvenile delinquency and mental health, and in 1919 he introduced the school's first staff psychiatrists and psychologists. With them, he established a department for the study of mental defects that later influenced the creation of the State Bureau of Juvenile Research in 1921. In 1941, the school was renamed the Fred C. Nelles School for Boys in honor of his pioneering leadership.