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The Reform School That Would Shape a Legend On June 13, 1902, George Herman Ruth Jr. arrived at St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore, accompanied by his father. The school sat on a sprawling campus of approximately fifty acres at the intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Caton Avenue, on the western edge of the city. It was an imposing institution—a complex of red brick buildings surrounded by high stone walls that seemed designed to keep the outside world out and the inmates in. For young George, then just seven years old, it must have felt like a prison. St. Mary's was not a prison, however, but a reformatory—one of many institutions that had been established in the late nineteenth century to address the problem of wayward boys. It was run by the Xaverian Brothers, a Catholic religious order dedicated to education and the care of the poor. The institution was founded in 1866, and by the time George arrived, it housed over 700 boys ranging in age from six to twenty-one. Some were orphans, some were children of the poor who couldn't afford to keep them, and some were troublemakers sent by the courts as an alternative to prison. George fit primarily into the latter category. The Xaverian Brothers who ran the school were a formidable presence. They were educated men who had dedicated their lives to service, and they brought a mix of strict discipline and genuine compassion to their work. The daily routine at St. Mary's was regimented: wake-up at dawn, prayers, breakfast, classes, work assignments, recreation, dinner, more classes or work, and lights out at 8 PM. The boys were organized into "battalions" for purposes of discipline and instruction, and every moment of their day was accounted for. There was little privacy and even less freedom. The school had a severe reputation, and accounts from former students confirm that life there was far from easy. Corporal punishment was standard. Boys who broke the rules were beaten with leather straps or wooden paddles. They were made to kneel on hardwood floors for hours. They were sometimes placed in isolation cells. The food was plain and monotonous—hard bread, thin soup, the occasional piece of meat. The work was hard and often tedious. The goal of the institution was not comfort but reformation: to turn these rebellious boys into productive members of society through discipline, education, and religious instruction. For George, who had never known much in the way of structure or discipline, the initial adjustment was brutal. He fought the rules at every opportunity. He talked back to the brothers, brawled with other boys, and attempted to escape more than once. The first few months were essentially a war of wills between a seven-year-old boy who had never learned to obey authority and a system designed to break that resistance. The Institution's Life and Culture Life at St. Mary's was organized around work, study, and prayer. The philosophy of the institution, like that of many reform schools of the era, was grounded in the belief that idle hands were the devil's workshop. To keep the boys busy and to teach them useful skills, the school operated workshops for carpentry, shoemaking, tailoring, printing, and other trades. Each boy was assigned to a work detail based on his abilities and needs, and these assignments rotated periodically. George was assigned to several different workshops over the years, and he showed surprising aptitude for carpentry and tailoring. He became proficient with woodworking tools, and later in life, he would enjoy building things with his hands. He also developed skills as a