MANSFIELD — Jeff Gorman said Tuesday afternoon his father gave him a historical mission before he passed away in 2023.
Jim Gorman, a local industrialist and philanthropist — and an Army Air Corps pilot during World War II — told his son the long-planned Frank P. Lahm Aviation Museum needed to come to fruition.
“The vision of the aircraft museum was one my father had very strongly, with a lot of his friends. Two months before he passed away, he said, ‘Make the museum happen.’
“We had some problems downtown (at the Soldiers & Sailors Building) and it wasn’t going to go anywhere,” Jeff Gorman said as the newest museum at OSR celebrated its grand opening.
“This is really his vision. I think when you see it, you’ll be very pleased. It’s not quite complete, but it will be soon. I guarantee it,” Gorman told people assembled for a ribbon-cutting for the third-floor museum at 100 Reformatory Road.
The move of the many exhibits from the Mansfield Memorial Museum inside the Soldiers & Sailors building was announced in March when officials began a plan to relocate it to OSR.
Trustees at the Soldiers & Sailors Building at 36 Park Ave. West has been closed to the public while trustees work on repurposing the site to better serve military veterans and organizations.
The former reformatory, which closed at the end of 1990, was already home to the OSR Prison Museum, the State Prison Museum, the Shawshank Museum and the Frank Darabont Gallery and the North Central Ohio Industrial Museum.
(Below are photos taken Tuesday afternoon during the grand opening of the Frank L. Lahm Aviation Museum at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. The story continues below the images.)
The Frank P. Lahm Aviation Museum presents the history of aviation in Richland County from 1852 to the present day through the lives of local people who made contributions to aviation history.
Brigadier Gen. Frank Purdy Lahm, a native of Mansfield, was a pioneer who earned the title of the “nation’s first military aviator.” His pivotal role in powered flight began in 1908 when he became the first U.S. military officer to fly as a passenger in an airplane alongside Orville Wright.
The following year, under the instruction of Wilbur Wright, Lahm and Lt. Frederic E. Humphreys became the U.S. Army’s first two official military pilots after soloing in1909.
Known as the “father of Air Force flight training,” Lahm dedicated his long military career to building the foundation of modern military aviation — from establishing the Philippines’ first seasonal flight school in 1912 to overseeing the development of Randolph Field in Texas.
The museum in Lahm’s name will be open to the public during OSR’s standard business hours and admission is included in any reformatory tour ticket purchase. The facility is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed on major holidays and between Dec. 23 and Jan. 1.
The Gorman Family Foundation project involved Jeff and Shellie Gorman, Gayle Gorman Green and Rich Green, and of course, Jim Gorman and his wife, Marge, a pilot herself who died in 2015.
One of the guests in attendance Tuesday was retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Timothy Beard, a Mansfield native who now lives in Texas. He came to Mansfield on Monday and spoke to the local Rotary Club on Tuesday. He was also a guest on the Richland Source’s News Man Weekly podcast. That episode publishes on Wednesday.
Lee Tasseff, president at Destination Mansfield, said the new aviation museum adds to the drawing power of the former prison.
OSR is already the No. 1 tourist site in Richland County, particularly due to the movie “Shawshank Redemption” being filmed there more than three decades ago.
“The reformatory itself will draw people to this museum. Then you’re going to have people coming just for (the aviation museum), who will get reintroduced to the reformatory. So they do work hand-in-hand,” he said Tuesday.
Mansfield architect Dan Seckel was one of the many community leaders who worked to preserve and save the OSR administration building, central guard room and cell block wings before the state demolished the rest of the prison after its closure.
On Tuesday, Seckel recalled those early days of the effort, which continues today through the Ohio State Reformatory Preservation Society.
“When we were first starting the project to save the building, there were letters to the editor in the (Mansfield) News Journal. One nice little old lady sent in a letter that said they should make that into a museum. Of course that was part of our intention, but she didn’t say where to come up with all the money to do it.
“But the intentions (were) there,” Seckel said.
“I do feel good about the restoration of the building and to also preserve items of Mansfield, what the North Central Ohio Industrial Museum has done to preserve regional items, and now regional items from the Lahm Museum.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t quite have enough time for the entire (museum) install, but you will see that as a good reason to come back and visit us on a regular basis and support all of the events and museums here,” Seckel said.
“It’s just very important to have a central depository for all this history,” Seckel said. “All of this is tribute to everybody who’s been involved. It’s all been a team project.”
Gayle Gorman Green said the museum had long been a dream of her father’s.
“I’m glad this came to fruition and for the local folks, especially people interested in aviation, to see all of the people and what they have done for this area, including all of the military service,” she said.
“We are honored,” said Gorman Green, a pilot who along with her husband, Rich, were honored with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot award in 2023. Rich Green, a retired Air Force general, is the former commander of the 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard.
That flying unit has now transitioned away from its flying mission to become the first Air National Guard cyberspace wing at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.
“Even though we lost our C-130s, we’re honored to be the first cyber unit,” Gorman Green said Tuesday.
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry thanked everyone involved with the project, including the entire Gorman family and the OSR team.
“This is really one of our keystones in the community. The work that has happened here since it was saved back in the early ’90s has just been phenomenal,” the mayor said.
“I love the vision of also bringing so many different types of museums together in this space. It really just builds on the draw that already exists here and of course we couldn’t be here today without the vision and the support of the late Jim Gorman,” Perry said.
After the ribbon was cut and people began filing into the museum, Jeff Gorman again reflected on his dad’s dream.
“He’d be very happy right now, I think. It’s not done, but it’s started and it’s going to grow from here because of his vision for the future,” he said.
The museum will include about 600 model-scaled airplanes that each were packaged individually from the downtown facility and will be put on the display again under glass at the Lahm Museum at OSR.
“It was kind of hard to bring it all here, clean it up and put it in the right kind of case. It wasn’t an easy move. It’s a lot of work and took a lot of care. As we get them here, they won’t be touched or anything, so it’ll be a good, good way to house them,” he said.
“We want to show off the things. This museum is going to add a lot of people that want to come to Mansfield. I think they’ll want to come and see not only this because they have a flying thing, but they’ll take in Shawshank and the other museums.
“It’s a real plus for the community, I think.”
Can he tell his father mission accomplished?
“Absolutely. I told him that all by myself.”
