Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls
|Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls|
|Opened||1941 (Second location)|
|Building Style||Cottage Plan|
The state's first reform school for girls began as the Milwaukee Industrial School, a private institution for the care of delinquent and orphaned girls and very young boys. State government began contributing taxpayer support in 1876, and in 1878 it was renamed the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls; the state took over its operation in 1917. In 1941, the school moved from Milwaukee to Oregon, in Dane Co., and in 1945 was renamed the School for Girls. In August 1972, it became a coeducational juvenile reformatory; four years later the facilities became the Oakhill Correctional Institution (an adult prison) and its young inmates were transferred to Lincoln Hills, a co-ed facility for juveniles.