It loomed like a scary old Transylvanian castle over Morganza Road and I -79 in Washington County Pa for many years until it was ultimately torn down . But it was a place no child ever wanted sent . The Morganza Reform School for Incorrigible Children .
When you committed a crime as a juvenile and it was deemed wrong enough to need reforming you where sent to this Reform School with a reputation for abusing its inmates .
with various punishments including beatings,starvings, and shackling
a former staffer has even written a book about his experiences there while working
I heard many a story growing up as a young child in the 60s about this place it was used by parents to scare you if you screwed up you would be sent there .
Eventually it was turned into Western Center in 70's which took care of mentally ill children until it closed in the 90s
and was torn down to make way for modern office complex now known as Southpointe
I was at Morganza Administration Building on its last day for the hearings set to testify in favor of
keeping the center open when a last minute deal was worked out to move the patients to group homes instead. Which I feel was a bad mistake they where way better taken care of at western Center.
While I wast here they gave a short tour of place and one of the staff showed a room from the old Morganza Reform days which looked like a cell in medieval torture chamber where he said beatings happened when they failed to follow the rules.
