REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS

FOR

ERECTING THE STATE REFORM SCHOOL.

To His Excellency GEORGE N. BRIGGS, Governor, and the Honorable Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:

The Commissioners for erecting the State Reform School Buildings at Westborough make their second

REPORT:

In the discharge of their commission, they have caused to be erected buildings designed to be sufficient for three hundred boys, with a superintendent and steward, their families, and the other necessary attendants and teachers.

The buildings stand on an eminence, sloping southwardly, towards Chauncey Pond, about forty-eight rods from it, and seventy-eight feet above its level. They are all connected, and so constructed as to enclose an area, or court, for a playground, which is one hundred and eighteen feet long, and eighty-four feet four inches wide, in the centre of which is a shed for shelter to the boys in foul weather.

The external walls of the buildings are one hundred and sixty feet in front, and in the rear; and two hundred feet on each side. The wings are two stories, the centre building three stories, and two towers five stories high.

In the centre building, are apartments for the superintendent and his family; rooms for other persons employed; the chapel; and the office, which, being lighted from the court, gives opportunity for constant inspection of the boys while at play. Opposite the office, in the centre building, are seven solitary dormitories for discipline.

In the east wing, are apartments for the steward and his family, the kitchen, washing and ironing rooms, sewing rooms, store rooms, hospital, and dormitories for boys. In the west wing, are two large school rooms with contiguous recitation rooms and dormitories, as in the east wing.

In the rear, the second story is one large room designed for a workshop, with a movable partition, that no more room may be warmed than is occupied. It is reached by stairs from a corridor opening on the court. The first story is occupied by the refectory, which is connected by a door with the kitchen; by an arched passage-way ten feet wide, affording an entrance from without to the court, and closed by gates; by a room for coal and wood; a bathing-room, in which are facilities for cold and warm bathing, and for regular ablutions; and the waterclosets, which all open into, or are connected with, a drain, that takes all the wash of the establishment to a reservoir for compost built at some rods distant.

The dormitories are for one bed each, and are four feet wide, eight feet long, and seven feet high; the doors all open upon the large hall appropriated to them, and the upper half of each door is composed of vertical iron rods, giving opportunity for oversight and ventilation; each dormitory has a ventilating flue, communicating with the attic, and so with the external air, through Emerson's ventilators. Those dormitories which are on the side next the court have sliding windows of 6 × 8 glass, with cast-iron guards corresponding to the sash of the window.

-For those boys who do not occupy dormitories, bunks, standing in the hall, in front of the dormitories, will be used, an attendant occupying a bed in the same hall.

In each wing, two rooms, of the size of the dormitories, are appropriated to water-closets, fitted with apparatus to cleanse and carry off to the common drain all the deposits. These are designed for night use only.

The foundations of the buildings are of stone, the walls of brick, the roof slated; the work has been done, as was proposed, in a neat, plain, and substantial manner. Very little has been done for mere ornament, as may be seen on inspec

tion, but nothing has been, designedly, omitted, which affects the practical value or the permanence of the buildings. It is not probable that they will be found incapable of improvement; for no foresight can provide for all contingencies, or anticipate all wants. The commissioners have already found one important defect, which no one of them thought of beforehand. The sash of the outside windows was made for glass of seven by nine inches, and the iron guards were made to correspond. Experiment proves that boys can escape through that space. It became necessary to provide a remedy, and arrangements are making to cover each window with a wrought-iron netting. This is an unexpected, an unwelcome, but a necessary addition to the expenses already incurred.

When the last report was made, it had not been entirely decided what course should be taken to furnish water. Since then, reservoirs have been built in the ground, sufficient to save all the water which falls upon the buildings; a pipe has been laid to the well at the farm-house, and arrangements so made as to use the water of the deep well at the building, for some purposes. These were the cheapest methods which could be devised, and may, it is hoped, answer the purpose. But it will not be surprising, if experience should prove them to be not entirely satisfactory. As a matter of economy, at least, it was thought best to try them.

The commissioners have furnished the buildings for the superintendent's and steward's families, and for one hundred and five boys. The school-room has been furnished with desks and chairs of an approved model, each pupil having a chair; each desk accommodating two pupils, and being made open at the ends, for books, and having on the top an inkstand permanently set. The room is warmed by Clark's ventilating stove. Few school-rooms can be found more inviting in appearance, or better fitted for use. In regard to all the other furniture, the intention has been to get that which is, at the same time, neat, comfortable, well made, and durable.

A few things only remain to be done before the duties required of this commission will have been fulfilled, and time will show how well, or how ill.