Ninety-five years ago, in 1919, the state of Maine established the State Reformatory for Men, located in South Windham on property it bought from Cumberland County. The “County Farm” was located here, and was called the “Home for Inebriates.”

Previously, the property, which included Lot No. 1 in Windham, had been a farm called Aspenhurst, owned by a Phinney and later Joseph Robinson. It had a 17-room, two-family house, barn and stables. After the state purchased the property, it was remodeled and used to house inmates.

In January 1924, after a 10-inch snowfall, the buildings burned. Inmates shoveled 50 tons of coal out of the basement in an attempt to save the farmhouse, but to no avail.

It wasn’t until 1926 that new buildings were constructed to shelter the prisoners. A brickyard was created and at least two three-story buildings were constructed. Inmates produced a half-million bricks a year. A dairy was built and more than 1,000 quarts of milk a day supplied the prison as well as Pineland Hospital in Pownal.

When the Reformatory was operated in the mid-1930s, there was a 70-acre garden, two pair of oxen, more than 1,000 chickens and 100 hogs. There were also 33 buildings, all built by the prisoners. At the end of 1938 there were 160 prisoners.

In the 1950s, Superintendent Perry Hayden reported the inmates were building a new gymnasium, new barns, and that they had also built the roof trusses for the buildings.

By the end of the 1900s, the brickyard was history. The state tore down many of the tenement houses built by the Robinson Woolen Co., and The Reformatory had evolved into Maine Correctional Center. Many of the 650-plus prisoners were involved in a work release program or educational programs.