Exterior view of the Roosevelt Building at the Whittier State School for Boys. The school opened in 1891 as the Whittier State Reformatory for Boys and Girls, with an enrollment of 300 youth. This institution received mainly boys who had been convicted of various forms of delinquency, ranging from mere dependency and truancy to serious offenses against property. In 1941 the school was renamed the Fred C. Nelles School in honor of the man who served as the facility's superintendent from 1912 to 1927. In 1942 the school became part of the Youth Authority. In 1991 Fred C. Nelles School celebrated its Centennial. In 2004, the CYA (California Youth Authority) closed the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier. This was its oldest facility spanning more than 100 years. The last ward left the facility on May 27, 2004. The CYA, the largest youthful offender agency in the nation, was created by law in 1941, but it wasn't until 1943 that the agency began to operate "reform schools" such as the Fred C. Nelles School for Boys, among others. Photo dated: May 29, 1939.
Whittier State School (Whittier, Calif.) Reformatories--California--Whittier Schools--California--Whittier Whittier (Calif.) Works Progress Administration Collection photographs
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