Girls' Industrial School photograph

Administrative building at the Girls' Industrial School, Delaware, Ohio, erected in 1873. The purpose of the school was "the reformation of exposed, helpless, evil disposed, and vicious girls." In 1878, the term "incorrigible" was added. A five-member board of trustees purchased a piece of property known as the Ohio White Sulphur Springs Resort, eighteen miles north of Columbus. The first six girls were admitted to the school in October 1869. The inmates spent their mornings performing domestic chores. They also learned various vocational trades, including basket-making, music, sewing, and stenography. In the afternoons, the girls attended school, where they studied, reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography, literature, and United States history among other topics. The girls remained at the school until they reached seventeen years of age or completed their sentence