The Industrial School for Boys, Shirley, Massachusetts (Massachusetts Correctional System)
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A Shaker Village existed in Shirley Massachusetts from the late 1700's to the
early 1900's. The site is now a prison but it started as two farms.
Shaker foundress Mother Ann Lee visited the Wilde brothers on their adjoining
farms in the southern part of Shirley in 1783. Her followers saw her as the
female embodiment of the Christ spirit. Her worship services were full of
singing, dancing, and speaking in tongues. She preached racial and sexual
equality. Believers strove to be modest, hard working, and peace loving. They
confessed their sins daily to the elder or eldress. Their whole focus was on
living the Godly life in every part of their day. Mother Ann also preached
celibacy and this was one belief which caused conflict between the Shakers and
non-Shakers.
Many seekers of spiritual truth came to Shirley to hear her speak. A poem of
many stanzas tells of the night Mother Ann spent hiding in a closet at the
Wilde's house to escape from an angry mob. In nearby Harvard, another community
of Shakers was gathering.
By 1790 there were sixty men, women, and children worshiping, working, and
living together on the Wilds property. It had been decided that they could only
follow the way if they lived in community, sharing their possessions, their
work, and their worship every day.
In 1792 they began
construction of a Meetinghouse. In 1793 they signed a covenant as a United
Society of True Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. They proceeded to
enlarge the farms and shops and build large dwellings for the other families who
would join them in the community.
By 1850, at their height, the Shirley Community had a Church Family with Meetinghouse, large dwelling, brick office, brick wash house, brick trustees shop, several barns, and other wooden shops and dwellings. The North Family was the novitiate and had a three story brick shop, small office, large dwelling, the broom shop, and several barns and sheds. The South Family, over the line in Lancaster, had an office, dwelling, shop, and barn. This family also housed a home for the aged. According to the state census, there were 114 Shaker men, women and children in the Shirley Community at that time.
The Shirley Shakers were not known for their baskets, boxes, or chairs, but for their brooms, mops and applesauce. Their community was also unique among the Shakers in that they built a large cotton manufactory on the banks of the Catacunemaug. Then they realized that their work force was declining and they leased the factory to a company from New Bedford. Later the buildings were sold and a cordage factory made rope in them for over one hundred years.
In 1908 the last three Shirley Shaker sisters sold the property to the state of Massachusetts who opened an Industrial School for Boys on the site. By 1972 the reform school closed and the state opened a pre-release correctional facility in the old Shaker buildings. In 1976 the area was put on the National register of Historic Places. There is now a minimum, medium, and maximum security facility on the grounds of the Old Shaker Village. There are still eight Shirley Shaker buildings on their original foundations, and three that have been moved. The prison limits visits to the site, but they are possible through special arrangement.
The Shirley
Industrial School for Boys was a part of
this town from 1909 - 1972 and was the topic of the Shirley Historical Society
meeting on Friday, May 11, 2001. Ray
Farrar who worked at the school and Joe Landry whose father worked there
attended the meeting and were video-taped sharing their stories.
Other former workers and State School "boys" have contacted the Museum
and we have added their memories to our files.
In 1908, the Shirley Shaker Community
had only three Shaker sisters, 900 acres of land and twenty-six buildings.
The Shaker Central Ministry decided to close the community, sell the property,
and have the sisters move to the Harvard Shaker Village. The state of
Massachusetts bought the Shaker property for an Industrial School for Boys, what
we now call a reform school. This industrial school was to take boys ages
15 - 20 and give them a house mother and a house father, give them academic
schooling, and teach them manners and a trade. The farmland and large old
Shaker buildings were well suited to these purposes and were promptly fitted out
with modern conveniences.
The Shirley
Historical Society has census records for 1920, 1930, and 1940 listing the names
of people who lived on the state property. It gives their ages and marital
status, place of birth, and parents' places of birth, but not much else. The
records of the boys would have been kept private by the state of Massachusetts.
As the boys
came to live at Shirley, the teachers, craftsman, office workers, and officials
came to work here. Many of them lived right on the property and later
bought homes in the town of Shirley. Following are the workers' names that
we have gathered at this time.
Superintendent
Asst. Superintendent
Social Director
Herbert F.
Taylor
Henry Kelly
Brown
Robert T. Grey
Clarence R. Day
Jerome Miller
Campbell
Supervisor of
Training and Education
John W.
Hastings
Assistant to
Mr. Hastings
Thomas J O’Hare
Senior Boys
Supervisor
Psychologist
Joseph
McNabb
Dr. Joseph Perry
Fielding
Purchasing
Agent Book Keeper
Office Manager
Eddy
Nodigian
Beatrice Landry
Sam Johnson
Carpentry
Electrician
Machine Shop
Bob
Hippler
Ray Farrar
Don Sargent
Joe Deering
John Pelletier
Eli Lanteigne
Athanace Landry
Ed (Fred) Small
Painter
Blacksmith
Masonry
John
Strubel
Fred Herald
Archie Paterson
Forestry
Cooks & Bakers
Auto Shop
Fred
Sanderson Bill Fisher
John Sullivan
Paul Berjivan
Joseph R. Lemieux
John Coleman
Bill Means
Farm
Printing
General Classes
Dick
Trombly Norbert
Whittemore Dan Keady
Alf Tracy
Bill Kerrigan
Mr. Berry
Al Yesue
Paul Griffin
Harold Madigan
Mr. Taylor
Discipline
Nurse
Barbershop
Mahoney
Hazel McNabb Paul Badagleacca
Paul Dickhout
Mary Madigan
Mike O'Malley
Mike Taylor
Bill Dunn
Power Plant
Sewing/Tailor
Laundry
Ray Farrar
John Linch
Harold Madigan
Barrett
Guy Caziano
Vernon Griffin
Nelson Wambolt
Secretaries
Paymaster
Chaplains
Stenographers,
Parsons
Rev. Fohlin
Clerks Father
Rene Bergeron
Blanche Burrows
Margaret Staples
Marie
Gionet Doctor
Agnes O'Malley
Bill Stecher
Bev Johnson
Lorraine Gionet House
Mother and party organizer
Delores Gionet
Mrs. Fieldings
Rosamund Johnson
Marion Smith
Lillian Sullivan
Visiting Music
Teacher
John T. Finnerty
House Parents
Mr and Mrs Burrows, Cottage #1 1933
From James Porter Deering:
In
the years I lived on the ISB grounds (1946-1968) these are the families whose
children were my companions growing up
Deering: Joseph
& Esther, Ronald, James
Hippler: Robert
& Nellie, Phyllis, Robert, Deborah, Fredrick
Madigan: Harold
& Mary, William
McNabb: Joseph
& Hazel, Maryellen, Dorothy, Robert, David
O’Malley: Mike
& …, Kevin, (a sister)
Patterson:
Archie & Elizabeth, Ann, Pat
Sanderson: Fred
& Elizabeth, Harold (some older siblings)
Struble: John &
Janet, Maurine, John, Kathleen
The school was
a wonderful place to grow up. The school was agricultural, for the most part, on
a 1,000 acre farm. There were cows, horses, pigs, chickens, etc., and large
fields for hay and vegetables. For many years the staff children were allowed to
intermix with the boys (with supervision, of course). There was a full-sized
basketball court, a movie theater, and a large sports area on the eastern
fields. For the first 7 years of my life my family lived at the corner of
Harvard Road and the north administration building circle road. When I was
seven, we moved to the lower road (Wilde Road) when the Landry family moved to
down town Shirley and off the grounds. My dad, Joseph Lewis Deering, retired and
moved to Great Road, Shirley in 1968.
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2019-07-28