Indiana Reformatory fire, February 6, 1918

Description:	Photograph of the destruction following a fire at the Indiana Reformatory. Visible is one man in the left foreground and others in the background surveying the piles of brick rubble. The walls of two destroyed buildings are in the background. On February 6, 1918, a fire destroyed many of the prison buildings, although no inmates were injured. Despite the destruction, the reformatory continued in operation, though it was never fully restored. The state began plans to move the inmates to the new Pendleton Reformatory or the Indiana Boys School and placed the property for sale. By 1921 the Colgate Company had decided to purchase the property and took ownership in 1923. For nearly a year, almost half the reformatory inmates remained in the cell houses, separated from workers by a wooden fence. By 1924, the last had been removed.
Origin:	1918-02
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16066coll100/id/38
Collection:	Clarksville Historical Collection
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/;
Copyright:	No Copyright - United States;
Geography:	Clarksville, Clark County, Indiana, United States
Subjects:	Prisons--Indiana--Clarksville Indiana Reformatory (Clarksville, Ind.)

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