[3] These organizations were founded on the principals that children under the age of 17, convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment, should not be put in jail among older hardened criminals.

[1] Early in 1846, a petition from magistrates and citizens of the Commonwealth was brought before the General Court asking for the creation of a state institution for the reformation of juvenile offenders.

April 16, 1846, the governor was authorized to appoint 3 commissioners to purchase land, erect a building and establish a system of governance for the first public institution of its kind.

It represents the state in her true relation, of a parent seeking out her erring children, and laying aside the stern severity of Justice while struggling for their reform.

There is a fitness that this first experiment, in this country by an entire body politic, to reform the young by an institution for punitive discipline, should be made by Massachusetts.It is proposed, by schools like this, to remove those from the reach of temptation, so far as may be, who have been led astray by the undisciplined passions of youth, or the more resistless power of corrupt associates, by educating and training them to useful trades and employment, and thereby giving them the means of acquiring personal independence.

It is proposed, by the discipline which awaits them here, to quicken the torpid actions of conscience, by calling into play the moral sentiments which have been suffered to lie dormant.The measures adopted by its trustees in, among other things, the selection of its superintendent - so vital to its success - form an additional guarantee to the public, that, if the experiment fails, it must be from causes intrinsically incident to such a work, and not from anyone of interest or capacity on the part of those to whom its concerns have been confided.

May the priceless, immortal souls that are to be subjected to human discipline through this institution, be purified from the stains by which they have been polluted, and set free from the bondage of Vice in which they have been enslaved!

We commend the school, with its officers and inmates, to a generous and grateful public, with the trust that the future lies of the Young who may be sent either for correction and reform, may prove the crowning glory of an enterprise so auspiciously begun.

Additionally, it was hoped that a well-managed farm with good soil and abundant free labor could help defray the cost of the Reform School.

After the new tracks of the Agricultural Branch Railroad were opened to Northborough in 1855, the coal was hauled from the State Farm Station about 1 mile from the institution.

The original building was designed to accommodate two separate workshops for the purpose of teaching the boys a mechanical skill as well as creating commodities of value that could be sold.

On April 1, 1854 all land associated with the State Reform School, with the exception the main building and its immediate vicinity; livestock, produce and farming utensils were transferred.

Over the five years, the boys would be involved in creating gravel walkways, setting apple and pear trees as well as the daily chores in the operations of the gardens and livestock.

After much consideration by the board of trustees and in consolation with the Governor, a large building in the town of Westborough was leased and set it up to house 150 of the younger boys.

With the recommendations of the Governor and of a committee formed, the legislature in 1860 appropriated money to build 3 houses and make renovations to the remaining structure as deemed necessary for a new classification system.

In 1856, the legislature explored the idea of having a reform school on board a sailing vessel as a means of training an older class of juvenile boys to be seamen.

Starting in 1862, judge Thomas Russell was accustomed to taking trips to the George M. Bernard in Boston Harbor on Sundays to address the boys.

Among the distinguished guests were: Charles Dickens, Goldwin Smith, David Farragut, Oliver Howard, John Andrew, Joseph Hawley, William Claflin, Marshall Jewel, and Lucius Fairchild, Matthew Simpson Frederic Huntington, Edward Taylor and George Haskins,[note 18] Charles Sumner, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and Anna Dickinson.

[24] Thomas Russell also served as host when on June 23, 1867 President Andrew Johnson made a visit to the school ship in Boston Harbor.

[note 19] The progressive thought of juvenile Reform, in England, in the 1830s was to place 1 to 3 dozen inmates with similar characteristics in separate small houses under the supervision of a surrogate father or mother.

In the United States, the cottage system was slow to catch on because of the greater expense of land, buildings, and services required, and the supposed increase difficulty of control of the inmates.

After the first year of the trial, the trustees were so convinced of the benefits of the cottage system that they recommended to the legislature that two more homes be built and the number of boys housed in each be reduced to 20.

The trustees thought these boys should be taught some industrial trades, but the legislature failed to appropriate money to build additional workshops, buy the machinery and hire overseers necessary to implement it.

With the abolishment of the nautical branch, the trustees and superintendent sought relief from the legislature, asking that the older boys be sent elsewhere or money appropriated to build an addition to house and segregate the incorrigible ones.

During this time, the "Band of Hope" was formed complete with uniforms and instruments in which the boys would play at the school and in parades in the area villages.

[note 22] A military company called "Lyman Cadets" was formed, composed of 60 boys completely furnished with uniforms, Springfield Rifles, a full set of accouterments and drilled in accordance with the Upton's tactics.

[35][note 24] On January 12, 1877, after eating supper and while still in the dining room, one of the inmates threw a bowl at a teacher and hit him in the head, creating an ugly cut that bled profusely.

Boys were held in the basement of the chapel in cells, where they were kept for days or even weeks with only rations of bread and water to eat and a cot to sleep on.

The sweatbox was a wooden box made in the woodworking shop that stood about six and a half feet tall and was just wide enough for a person to stand upright without being able to move.

Based on this report, the legislature authorized the governor to appoint a new board of trustees, and they enacted laws regulating the use of corporal punishment in the reform school.