Reform School for Juvenile Offenders (Fred C. Nelles School)

California's first reform school opened here on July 1, 1891, and under superintendent Fred C. Nelles, from 1912 to 1927, it became the state's laboratory for the science of delinquency. Researchers gave the boys intelligence tests, sent fieldworkers to their families, and classified Mexican, Mexican American and Black children as feebleminded. Those labels moved children into state institutions where they were sterilized, without a court hearing, into the 1950s. Benny Moreno died in the isolation unit in 1939, Edward Leiva in 1940. Housing opened here in 2020. The plaque was stolen during construction; a developer's panel stands instead.

What the plaque says

RICHARD A. McGEE Administrator Youth and Adult Corrections Agency EDMUND G. BROWN Governor State of California DEPARTMENT OF THE YOUTH AUTHORITY FRED C. NELLES SCHOOL FOR BOYS HEMAN G. STARK, DIRECTOR and CHAIRMAN Members Of The Board RALPH B. WRIGHT • JUAN D. ACEVEDO • LEE STUBBS PENLAND JOHN W. BREWER • ROBERT R. FIGONE F. HAROLD BUTTERFIELD, SUPERINTENDENT CARL C. McELVY, STATE ARCHITECT MAY 21, 1966 REFORM SCHOOL FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS THE MARCH 11, 1889 ACT OF THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE AUTHORIZED THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SCHOOL FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS. DEDICATION AND LAYING OF CORNERSTONE WAS DONE BY GOVERNOR R.W. WATERMAN ON FEBRUARY 12, 1890. OFFICIALLY OPENED AS "WHITTIER STATE SCHOOL" FOR BOYS AND GIRLS ON JULY 1, 1891. GIRLS WERE TRANSFERRED IN 1916 AND ONLY BOYS HAVE BEEN IN RESIDENCE SINCE THAT TIME. RENAMED "FRED C. NELLES SCHOOL FOR BOYS" IN 1941 ("FOR BOYS" WAS DROPPED AROUND 1970). THIS SCHOOL HAS BEEN IN CONTINUOUS OPERATION SERVING THE NEEDS OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS SINCE 1891. CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 947 PLAQUE PLACED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION IN COOPERATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF THE YOUTH AUTHORITY, MAY 24, 1984.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 8.9 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
• Domínguez Rancho Adobe — 12 mi
  The first Spanish land grant in California contained the whole harbor, and in 1846 fifty Californio lancers turned back three hundred Marines on it.
• Chavez Ravine — 13 mi
  Three Mexican American neighborhoods cleared for public housing that was never built, then traded to a ballclub.
• Colorado Street Bridge — 13 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.

More markers nearby

• Paradox Hybrid Walnut Tree — 0.3 mi
• Grave of George Caralambo (Greek George) — 0.7 mi
• Casa de Governor Pío Pico — 1.7 mi
• Rio San Gabriel Battlefield — 3.7 mi