There was a huge farm on the hill, overlooking the first settled area of Windham. It was famous for its herd of registered Jersey cows. Owner Joseph Robinson had even imported a pure-blood bull from the Isle of Jersey. Before Robinson owned the farm, the property was known for years as the Phinney Farm, and included 125 acres of land, a 17-room, two-family house, barn, stables and tie-up – identified on old maps as the Aspenherst Farm.

The adjoining Webb farm pastured 100 head of cattle, and had a farmhouse and barn. The property next to Webb’s was owned by a Mr. Frink and included an apple orchard of up to 500 trees, 16 acres of land and a farmhouse.

All this was part of Windham’s Mallison Falls neighborhood – around 250 acres – which was purchased in 1913 by the Cumberland County Commissioners. Their plan was to use the property for the care and treatment of inebriates.

In 1919, the state of Maine purchased the property for $18,000 and named it the State Reformatory, a place to house those convicted of crimes.

The old buildings were in pretty bad shape and after a winter storm in January 1924 that dumped 10 inches of snow, a fire took 20 minutes to destroy the main building where inmates were housed. Newspaper headlines of the day told of the men rescuing their comrades, trying to put out the fire and finally, marching to the home of the prison doctor, Dr. Parker. The day after the fire, a dozen men were busy shoveling 50 tons of coal from the basement. When this chore was complete, the men were housed in the dairy, which had no heat.

Elmer Pratt became superintendent in 1925 and after several years of wrangling with then-governor Baxter, work began on a three-story brick building that would hold 200 inmates.

All the work was done by inmates – even the bricks were made at the brickyard on site.

In 1938, Pratt (still superintendent) reported that this brickyard was producing more than half a million bricks per year. The state owned more than 400 acres by now, and 70 were under cultivation. The inmates totaled an average of 160. There were 33 buildings including eight tenement houses for employees and families.

The prison owned two pair of oxen, horses, cattle, hogs and poultry. The dairy produced 1,000 quarts of milk daily and the inmates even made ice cream!

By the mid-1950s, the 170 men incarcerated there were making roof trusses, cement blocks and eventually a gymnasium.

This state facility has undergone many changes, including name changes, during the 100 years of its existence, and in 2016, the Maine Correctional Center on River Road is in the midst of expanding yet again – this time, the added building will house women inmates.