The State Industrial School opened in 1881. The School was built with capacity for 50 students/inmates. There were only three boys there when the School opened in July. Their ages were 6, 8, and 14. Two more boys joined them in September. By December, there were 40 boys, and the governors announced that–unless the state increased their appropriation–they had reached capacity.
Here’s an interesting fact: when the school opened, parents, as well as courts, could commit boys to the school. In at least one case a boy was sent there because his parents had died and there was no one left to care for him.
