Old boys' reform school is subject of museum

Entertainer Bob Hope escaped from the school in 1919 and never returned.
LANCASTER, Ohio (AP) -- The tens of thousands of boys that spent time at the Boys Industrial School were deemed incorrigible, truant, thieves or burglars by juvenile courts, but a few of them went on to fame and success.
Bob Hope and the country music songwriter who penned, "Take This Job and Shove It," both did time in the school about 35 miles southeast of Columbus.
Seven former employees plan to tell the story of the old reform school, which operated from 1858 to 1979, through a museum in the old superintendent's mansion.
"This institution has a lot of history and we would like to preserve that," said Jerry Eaton, a former security supervisor at the school.
The former employees have established a nonprofit corporation and a board of trustees to oversee the museum, and they're putting together a collection of photographs, documents and uniforms. The plan is to open the museum next year, in time for the 150th anniversary of the reform school's founding.
Listed as truant
Bob Hope was sent there at age 14 from his home in Cleveland. An admittance card filed May 18, 1918, lists him as a truant. He was paroled later that year.
Another card shows he was readmitted in March of 1919 for a parole violation. He escaped June 30 of that year and never returned.
The admittance cards for Hope and his brother, who was sent there for juvenile delinquency, are kept in plastic sleeves by Warren Francis, who coached and worked as a cottage supervisor at the school for 21 years.
David Allan Coe of Akron was admitted at age 15 in 1955 as an incorrigible, according to Francis' documents. He grew up to become a country music performer and songwriter, and his "Take This Job and Shove It," was a hit for singer Johnny PayCheck in 1977.
Worked in bakery
The museum organizers said they also plan to tell the story of a Cleveland boy who worked in the school bakery and was nicknamed Baker Boy. Johnny Risko went on to become a famous prizefighter.
Herbert Christian was sent to the school from Byesville in Southeast Ohio, documents show. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for sacrificing himself during World War II.
The boys received visits from Ohio governors and Woody Hayes over the years.
The reform school grounds are now home to a state men's prison, the Southeastern Correctional Institution. The mansion is outside the prison's security fence.
The legacy of the reform school is evident in the prison's address: 5900 B.I.S. Road. Prison inmates with carpentry skills will build display cases for the museum.