This view of the Auburn Prison looks nicer than any of my college dorms, and I lived in some pretty nice ones. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a swimming pool out back. If the food's good too, this could be a pleasant place to spend the summer.
The card was written in 1912 with the following message:
Auburn, NY
8.-9.1912
I am having a nice time
Clarence is coming up to morrow we will stay unti Monday. I am encloseing a few views that I thought would interest you.
From Katie Tarbox
I have a number of cards from various Tarbox family members. It's a great name.
Oh, I just found another card of the Auburn prison. This one shows the inner courtyard. I don't see a pool, but I know it must be somewhere.
And there's more. Did you know that the Auburn prison was the first facility to use the striped black and white prison uniforms? It was also the first prison to introduce the electric chair. The "Auburn System" was copied by many other prisons; it included hard labor and solitary confinement. I guess this wasn't the summer camp I imagined. Cayuga Museum director, Eileen McHugh has just published a history of the prison entitled
Auburn Correctional Facility. You can read more about it
here.
The vines over the building also add an aesthetic touch. Interesting comparison.
ReplyDeleteMust be one of those Ivy League prisons.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Shutter Island!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the pool is in another courtyard, right next to the polo field... I think all that ivy would have been great place to hide a file or two!
ReplyDeleteChristine, I love that trivia about the black and white striped suits. Much better than the flourescent orange ones they have today.
ReplyDeleteTrishia,
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine how lackluster the Keystone Cops movies would have been with solid-colored jumpsuits!