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History

The history of Boys Totem Town begins shortly after the implementation of a juvenile court in Ramsey County on June 1, 1905.

At that time, the juvenile court was facing two major problems - truancy and locking up children in adult jails because there were no available juvenile facilities for providing treatment. Because of the lack of a treatment facility, the juvenile court's first judge, the Honorable Grier M. Orr, could only lecture truants and turn them loose.

When the Minnesota Legislature convened in 1907, Judge Orr joined others in strongly lobbying for separate juvenile detention facilities.

In 1907, the legislature authorized establishment of a Detention Home for boys in each of Minnesota's largest urban counties: Ramsey, Hennepin, and St. Louis.

On February 1, 1908, the Ramsey County Home for Boys opened its doors at 753 E. 7th Street in St. Paul, as an adjunct of the Ramsey County Juvenile Court. Due to overcrowding, it moved on June 12, 1913 to an 80-acre track in the Highwood area of Ramsey County, furnished with an old log house and a frame barn.

In 1928, a one-room brick school building was added to the log house. In 1934, a fireproof barn was built by the WPA. In 1936, the log house was destroyed by fire and was replaced shortly afterwards by a fireproof dormitory. In 1941, the schoolhouse was built.

On April 12, 1957, the Ramsey County Home for Boys name was changed to Boys Totem Town. Also in 1957, Totem Town was placed under the jurisdiction of the newly created Detention and Corrections Authority. In 1974 the Ramsey County Corrections Department was formed from the Detention and Corrections Authority.

The name "Boys Totem Town" evolved from the practice of turning every dead tree on the grounds into a totem pole.

David Ardoff, former director of the school program at BTT, concludes the history of BTT with the following:

There are constants that have remained through the years. The boys still need guidance, health care, food, and shelter. We are still working with the same problems, but, hopefully, we are learning and using newer and better skills, which we can use in our day-to-day contact with our boys.

Timeline

1906 - Board of School Inspectors felt the city needed a facility to handle "truants and intolerable offenders".
1907 - A day school established in loop area called "Parental School for Habitual Truants and Poorly Adjusted Boys".
1907 - Legislation passed permitting counties to build home schools.
1908 - Need for a detention home arose. The parental school was renamed "Parental School and Detention Home" and moved to newer and larger quarters in the downtown area.
1910 - Hattie Fox became the Superintendent of the Ramsey County Home for Boys, a position she held until December 31, 1930.
1912 - Study showed a need for more quarters and space.
1913 - Present site purchased and renamed "Ramsey County Home School" with dual responsibility of detention and correction.
1931 George Reiff became Superintendent.
1932 - First Totem Pole completed and erected.
1936 - Main building destroyed by fire. W.P.A. rebuilt it and a barn.
1938 - Superintendent Relf referred to the school as Totem Town. The name stuck.
1941 - School and gym built by W.P.A. Operation was a family situation - farm operation, beautification of the grounds, formal and informal gardens.
1943 - Additional land purchased.
1946 - District Judges made chief probation officer responsible for administration.
1952 - George Relf died. Superintendents who followed: Vincent Rels, Ben Reuben,William Walsh, Wayne Johnson, Steve Dornbach, Leonard Kohler, and Frank Hosch.
1957 name officially changed to Boys Totem Town; the department of Detentions and Corrections Authority was created and made responsible for administration of BTT.
1960 - Partition dorms and intern rooms added on.
1964 - Addition constructed to double the facilities size.
1976 – PEARS program implemented.
1994 – Kohler Hall, a twenty bed security unit, constructed.
1996 – Aftercare Program added.