BIS COTTAGES “On the Hill”

Form and function are at work whenever organizational plans are executed. Without a plan the dreams of Charles Remeelin would result in chaos. As a result of following those plans the Ohio State (Reform) Farm became the model for other states to follow in setting up reform school for boys and girls as well. When those ten boys were brought from the House of Refuge in Cincinnati to the Hocking hills some kind of buildings had to be built, and fast, because the need was great. Temporary log cabins were built but more plans for better buildings were on the drawing board.
Those buildings were “the beginning” of buildings and as in any institution as large as the BIS, the generations of buildings where boys were housed, taught, trained and fed were in a continuous state of flux. Obviously the log cabins would not last very long – they would soon become history without one photo having been taken and consequently no one could have any personal recollection, second hand or otherwise about those early cabins. Were it not for some notes in the Annual Reports, and the skills of David L. Schmeltzer who made these models for the BIS MUSEUM the physical images would never have materialized. :
Pictured below are replicas of those first log cabins. David L. Schmeltzer, a Lancaster (Ohio) artisan, made and donated these replicas to the BIS MUSEUM. The models were designed so the roof portion could be removed to show the interior. Mr. Schmeltzer’s craftsmanship makes the journey back to 1858 a bit easier to visualize what life was like when the BIS was known as the Ohio State Reform Farm Village. The occasion for these pictures was the open house sponsored by the BIS MUSEUM.



More spacious and appropriate buildings had to be provided and it wasn’t long until architects were solicited to make more plans for the future. The grouping of these buildings was functional to house, teach, feed and enable the boys to get to their work stations and the following illustration is proof of the plans. The illustration authenticates the plan which was followed and finalized as shown in the two actual photos of buildings which were built and arranged as per the above sketch. (Previous comments in our articles were made without the knowledge of the third generation of buildings which follow later in this text). Previously an architect’s drawing showed a campus or compound and no photographic record substantiated that plan as having been accomplished. Only recently, photos were made available from Mike LeMay that proved that plan materialized. In fact there was one thread in the way of a photo used in the Lancaster, Ohio Eagle-Gazette’s Sesquicentennial Edition. The photo Mike LeMay provided was that thread. Now that campus could be identified by the two photos showing a front and rear view of the compound. These second generation buildings were of brick and frame construction.

Attribution for this architectural drawing is unknown except for the date of 1859. Sometimes representations of history are blurred and exact proofs, such as photos, are simply lost in the shuffle of time and the lives of participants in institutions, companies and families.
Information recorded in the Twelfth Annual Report for REFORM SCHOOLS…for 1867 says, “The buildings [in the above-mentioned architects plan and the 1862 photo as well] include one main building, seven family buildings (Maumee, Cuyahoga, Muskingum, Ohio, Hocking, Scioto and Huron Buildings [called "cottages" later]) three bathing houses, three shop buildings, two large barns, a wood house, bake house, lockup, wash house, ice house, dry house, corn house and cook house, together with several out buildings. The main building is 154 feet long, 72 feet wide, with 40 feet width of wing, and is two stories high above the basement. … The family buildings [cottages] are 57 feet long by 36 feet wide, and are two stories high above the basement.

This above photo shows one view of the campus; and a second view showing the “other side of the campus or compound” is shown below. There is a white fence which surrounds the compound as shown above and which also was indicated on the architectural drawing pictured earlier (The sign posted in the near foreground gives notice to visitors: “Visitors are forbidden to talk with inmates unless in the presence of an officer and visitors were not expected at the BIS on the Sabbath, only to attend divine services.” The above buildings appear to be of brick construction and if the compilers have interpreted their research this group of buildings is thought to be the second generation of buildings erected on the Hill. (The first generation being the log cabins.)

As in any institution of this magnitude, rebuilding and re-modeling buildings was a common and continual occurrence and with a built-in workforce (hundreds of inmates) it was reported, on one occasion, that $59,832.63 was saved or monies not needed from State monies. An entry in the 1874 Annual Report provided this information: “The institution is now overcrowded and applications for admission were never before so numerous and pressing.” The Ohio Reform Farm [concept] was working and providing young men with a home and education and because of the boys themselves providing the labor force equaled much savings in finances that would have otherwise been a state expense.
The layout of the architects’ drawing show a circular arrangement of buildings which included cottages (named after rivers in Ohio) and other utilitarian buildings. The photos from Mike LeMay’s collection were dated 1862 and are being assumed to be the second generation of buildings (replacing the log cabins).. The names of cottages, in particular, were named after rivers in Ohio; the architectural drawing (above) has captions which read: (from left to right) Gymnastic Hall, Maumee Building, Cuyahoga Building, Muskingum Building, Ohio Building, Hocking Building, Scioto Building, Temporary Office, Huron Building, and (the) Barn. Obviously later names of the dormitories took on the official term of “Cottage” and the above buildings dropped the generic name, Building, and took on a specific name (e.g., Maumee Cottage, Cuyahoga Cottage, etc., which later became a description of FAMILY cottage names, e.g. “the boys were from the Maumee Cottage or the Maumee Family”.)
A third generation of buildings was planned and built and is dated somewhere around the turn of the century, beginning around 1888. The 1862 photos, above, just twenty-six years previous to the 1888 photo (below) is proof that the Ohio State Reform Farm Village was growing rapidly and buildings were high on the priority list. The original brick buildings built around 1862 that bore the names of rivers in Ohio would have been razed and the new cottages would be dubbed by those same names of Ohio rivers once the old cottages were gone. Names of buildings have a way of hanging on even after the original buildings have been razed.

The above photo, dated 1888, shows the Main Building of the BIS with inmates group in front, staff members, wives cottage family member heads, etc. on porch on right. Part of this building was still standing in 1950 across from the Dining Hall. (Picture courtesy of Calvin S. Stouder, 1003 Second Street) Note: Compilers were only able to contact a cousin of the Calvin S. Stouder. Another descendant, Craig Stouder, whose wife has been a helpful researcher in our BIS History Project.
In that the subject has reached the 1888′s or late 19th Century, the names of the Family Cottages are soon to take on additional new names but not related to RIVERS OF OHIO; now a practice has been adopted to name new cottages after former Governors of Ohio. Governors: Asa S. Bushnell, George K. Nash, Myron T. Herrick, John M. Pattison, Andrew I. Harris and Judson Harmon. Terms of the above governors (40th through 45th, dates 1896 through 1909.) will have cottages bearing their last names, some of which will be found in fourth and later generations of buildings.(Above stats from list of Ohio Governors of Ohio since 1803, Source: http://en.wikipedia,org/wiki/Governor of Ohio. 10/27/2007)
The Family Cottages numbered twelve around the turn of the Century and, as noted earlier per the architectural illustration, seven of these cottages were arranged in an oval or a circle, in the center was the main building. Later cottages were designed for the accommodation of the smaller (younger) boys and were more isolated. These buildings were a full quarter of a mile from the main building but are rendered easily accessible by a spacious paved roadway [military marching and young bodies could cover this distance in a short time]. This gap between the institution proper and the smaller boys’ cottages gradually closed due to adding new cottages. About 1896 the distance between the cottages lessened further by the erection of a handsome chapel of native sandstone and a pressed-brick, locally made by the boys, cottage for seventy boys. That cottage was christened BUSHNELL in honor of the then chief executive of the State.
The photo below, showing eight of the original cottages, was lifted from the book, “Lancaster and Fairfield County, Ohio” by the authority of The Board of Trade & City Council of Lancaster, and published by George A. Kraemer, Publisher in 1901: These cottages were built around the turn of the century. The names of these cottages, from top to bottom, left side are as follows: Cuyahoga, Muskingum, Highland and Ohio. The cottages on the right side, top to bottom are: Bushnell, Scioto, Hocking and Lagonda. In the years following the turn of the century, some cottages were re-built and do not resemble the “older” pictures above; we have pictures of all the cottages that were current or in use when the FSB (BIS) was closed in 1979 and may publish them in this web site but this added comment just informs you some cottages “took on a new face” through the years but the original names continued to be used. As the years rolled by after the Victorian cottages required extensive repairs it is obvious another generation of cottages came along in an appearance not unlike typical apartment buildings in any city.

+++++ THE WORDWRIGHT wants to thank Mike LeMay (Lancaster, Ohio auctioneer and employee of Frank E. Smith Funeral Home) for enabling us to provide photographs to help authenticate the various generations of cottages in the early years of the BIS. When we wrote the article published in November 28, 2010 no such photos had yet been found. When the State of Ohio decided to close the Fairfield School for Boys (aka the BIS), a very small number of the 3rd generation of cottages were left and all of the later or modern apartment style cottages were razed in 1979 period of time for the new SCI adult facility. The newer or modern cottages will be featured in a later article. It is necessary to insert here that there were many other buildings other than cottages and they too will be mentioned in later articles.