MANSFIELD, Ohio—As of Monday, Jan. 5, renovation of the Ohio State Reformatory’s west administration building has begun. The space will be home to the Ohio Corrections Museum, which will feature historic artifacts belonging to correctional facilities and law enforcement agencies across the state.
In August of last year, the Reformatory was designated as the official state penal museum. This designation has given them the authority to display historic items from correctional facilities and law enforcement agencies in any of the 88 counties. They already have some items from a few different facilities on display in the east administration building.
Paul Smith, executive director of the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society, said they hope to open the museum in June of this year–just in time for the main tour season, he said.
“That is our hope, and we’re off to a good start,” he noted.
The west administration’s first floor, which contains seven rooms, is what’s currently undergoing renovation. Everything from the ceilings, to the walls, floors, lights and so on will be restored. Smith said the west administration will closely resemble the east administration once it’s finished. In the meantime, however, they are assessing what repairs are needed in order for the restoration process to progress.
“We basically have to go backwards before we can move forward,” said Smith.
They are striving to maintain the historical integrity of the structure. Smith noted, “There’s a lot of craftsmanship involved to match what it was before.”
Smith said that Dan Seckel of Seckel Group Architects serves as the Reformatory’s “go-to guy” for projects such as these. “He takes care of all the architectural details and makes sure that we have the right thing in the right place and that it’s properly done,” said Smith, adding, “He has an eye for detail.”
The second and third floors of the administration building will also be restored. “We’re shooting for completion of the administration building within five years. That’s kind of a lofty goal, but I think we can hit it as long as everything keeps going well,” Smith said. Eventually, they’d like to encompass multiple floors of the administration building with the museum, he stated.
The restoration is privately funded, Smith said. “It’s all done from our programming out here, and we’ve expanded our programming quite a bit with new events. We’ve got several new events this year alone,” he said.
In order to obtain artifacts to be put on display for the museum, Smith said they’ve made calls and trips to different facilities. “The sad thing is a lot of these items over the past 20 years have been thrown in dumpsters…and we’ve lost tons and tons and tons of amazing historical items…so what we’re trying to do is contact these institutions and say, ‘We will take whatever you have,’” he explained.
They’ve received items from a few different agencies, including local facilities like the Mansfield Correctional Institution, he said.
“We have some,” Smith hesitated, “Eh, people will just have to come out and see…They’re unbelievable and I can’t believe we got them.”
