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Ohio State Reformatory
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The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, also known as the Mansfield Reformatory, was built from 1886 to 1910 as an institution for young first-time offenders between the Boys Industrial School and the State Penitentiary. Its grounds had earlier served as a Civil War training camp, and its first prisoners arrived in 1896 to help build key prison infrastructure. Designed by Levi T. Scofield in a striking mix of Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Queen Anne styles, it was meant to inspire reform as well as confinement. After nearly a century of operation, overcrowding and inhumane conditions led to its closure in 1990. Since 1995, preservation and tourism have made it one of Ohio’s best-known former prisons.
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