Ohio State Reformatory - Mansfield, OH
Ohio State Reformatory has a long history in Mansfield, Ohio.
Ohio State Reformatory, also known as the Mansfield Reformatory was built between 1886 and 1910 but it’s history really started in 1862 when the land was used as a traininig camp for Civil War Soldiers. The camp was named Camp Mordecai Bartley, in honor of the Governor in the 1840’s. In 1867, Mansfield was a candidate for the new Intermediate Penitentiary (this was the original name). The city had raised $10,000 to purchase the 30 acres of land for the prison while the state acquired 150 acres of adjoining land for $20,000. The cost of building the facility was $1,326,769. It was originally intended to be a halfway point between the Boys Industrial School over in Lancaster and the State Penitentiary over in Columbus.
Construction began in 1886 and was under construction until 1910 due to funding problems which caused many delays. The original architect for this amazing design was Levi T. Scofield who was from Cleveland. The building was influenced by three different architectural styles. Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Queen Anne. He designed it using these unique styles hoping to encourage the inmates to become reborn back into their spiritual lives. The creation and construction though of the entire building was given to architect, F.F. Schnitzer (his name is on the corner stone) and also listed as Superintendent and Supervising Architect on documents. In 1891 is when the name was changed from Intermediate Penitentiary to Ohio State Reformatory.
September 15, 1896 began the story of this building with it’s first 150 offenders. They were brought in by train from Columbus and almost immediately upon arrival they were put to work on the prison sewer system and the 25 foot stone wall that surrounded the complex. From 1935 until 1959 Arthur Lewis Glattke was the Superintendent, also referred to as warden. He was respected by professionals as well as the inmates. He implemented many things into the prison….one being piping in radio music to the cell blocks. Sadly though, his wife Helen Bauer Glattke was said to have been reaching for something (some say a hat box, some say a jewelry box) in the family quarters and a handgun fell, discharged and struck Helen. She would die three days later of pneumonia. (Now...while it’s not documented, there was a rumor that they were getting a divorce and it was getting messy. Some think Arthur might have had a prisoner come in and shoot her…..of course rumors are just that though.) Arthur would pass away following a heart attack in his office there on February 10. 1959.
It's recorded that over 200 people died at OSR, including two guards killed during escape attempts....but again rumors say it could be more. OSR remained in full operation until December 1990 when it was closed due to a federal court order. The court order was a result of a prisoners' class actin suit citing overcrowding and injumane conditions and the judge ordered the prison closed by the end of December of 1986. Due to delays with the construction of the replacement facility, which is located just west of the old building, the closing date was moved to December of 1990. Most of the support buildings and outer wall were demolished. 1995 brought the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society and between them and a special movie that was filmed there (The Shawshank Redemption) they were able to save the building from being demolished and have since turned it into a museum, conducting tours, renting out to photographers and of course many ghost hunts. They work still today to help preserve this special building and it's history. The East Cell Block remains the largest free-standing steel cell block in the world at six tiers high.
It's been used in many films, music video's, promo photography. One film was even done while it was still in operations (Harry and Walter Go to New York - 1975). Some of the more noteables are Tango & Cash, Air Force One, Godsmack's video for "Awake", Marilyn Manson used for some of his promo photography, Little Wayne did a video here and painted one of the cells with a maroon and gold paint. It's also been featured on many of the paranormal shows as well.
You can visit this place today....and highly recommend you do. The architecture is amazing and it's history is just mind blowing!
www.mrps.org
Ohio State Reformatory, also known as the Mansfield Reformatory was built between 1886 and 1910 but it’s history really started in 1862 when the land was used as a traininig camp for Civil War Soldiers. The camp was named Camp Mordecai Bartley, in honor of the Governor in the 1840’s. In 1867, Mansfield was a candidate for the new Intermediate Penitentiary (this was the original name). The city had raised $10,000 to purchase the 30 acres of land for the prison while the state acquired 150 acres of adjoining land for $20,000. The cost of building the facility was $1,326,769. It was originally intended to be a halfway point between the Boys Industrial School over in Lancaster and the State Penitentiary over in Columbus.
Construction began in 1886 and was under construction until 1910 due to funding problems which caused many delays. The original architect for this amazing design was Levi T. Scofield who was from Cleveland. The building was influenced by three different architectural styles. Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Queen Anne. He designed it using these unique styles hoping to encourage the inmates to become reborn back into their spiritual lives. The creation and construction though of the entire building was given to architect, F.F. Schnitzer (his name is on the corner stone) and also listed as Superintendent and Supervising Architect on documents. In 1891 is when the name was changed from Intermediate Penitentiary to Ohio State Reformatory.
September 15, 1896 began the story of this building with it’s first 150 offenders. They were brought in by train from Columbus and almost immediately upon arrival they were put to work on the prison sewer system and the 25 foot stone wall that surrounded the complex. From 1935 until 1959 Arthur Lewis Glattke was the Superintendent, also referred to as warden. He was respected by professionals as well as the inmates. He implemented many things into the prison….one being piping in radio music to the cell blocks. Sadly though, his wife Helen Bauer Glattke was said to have been reaching for something (some say a hat box, some say a jewelry box) in the family quarters and a handgun fell, discharged and struck Helen. She would die three days later of pneumonia. (Now...while it’s not documented, there was a rumor that they were getting a divorce and it was getting messy. Some think Arthur might have had a prisoner come in and shoot her…..of course rumors are just that though.) Arthur would pass away following a heart attack in his office there on February 10. 1959.
It's recorded that over 200 people died at OSR, including two guards killed during escape attempts....but again rumors say it could be more. OSR remained in full operation until December 1990 when it was closed due to a federal court order. The court order was a result of a prisoners' class actin suit citing overcrowding and injumane conditions and the judge ordered the prison closed by the end of December of 1986. Due to delays with the construction of the replacement facility, which is located just west of the old building, the closing date was moved to December of 1990. Most of the support buildings and outer wall were demolished. 1995 brought the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society and between them and a special movie that was filmed there (The Shawshank Redemption) they were able to save the building from being demolished and have since turned it into a museum, conducting tours, renting out to photographers and of course many ghost hunts. They work still today to help preserve this special building and it's history. The East Cell Block remains the largest free-standing steel cell block in the world at six tiers high.
It's been used in many films, music video's, promo photography. One film was even done while it was still in operations (Harry and Walter Go to New York - 1975). Some of the more noteables are Tango & Cash, Air Force One, Godsmack's video for "Awake", Marilyn Manson used for some of his promo photography, Little Wayne did a video here and painted one of the cells with a maroon and gold paint. It's also been featured on many of the paranormal shows as well.
You can visit this place today....and highly recommend you do. The architecture is amazing and it's history is just mind blowing!
www.mrps.org
EVP's
So, back in about 2008, I was with Jay Bachochin and a member of the Wisconsin Paranormal Investigators and was my first visit ever to this place. As me and another investigator were walking thru the Warden's Quarters, we were trying to determine which closet it was that Helen Glattke was in when the incident of the gun discharging, ultimately to her untimely death. (During the initial tour at this time, they walk you thru and don't tell you exactly which one it was in....so you had to guess) To this day, this is still my best EVP I have ever captured. I didn't hear anything until after I got home and reviewed my recordings and caught this. I've been back a couple times and I've tried to debunk this multiple times...from having other people open and close different doors in the area, walking around the whole area and such.....I have yet to get an answer other than it's possibility of it being paranormal (and I've been back here at least 4 times so far since)