70 Historic and Abandoned Photos of the Sleighton Farm School

The Sleighton Farm School is an abandoned reformatory school for delinquent girls aged 12 to 18 in Pennsylvania. We prepared 50 Abandoned Photos of the Old Sleighton Farm School.

The Sleighton Farm School was opened in 1826 as a house of refugees in Philadelphia and then broke off into a boys and girls school and moved to glen mills and was built in 1908. The school was founded in 1911 and was known as the “Glen Mills School Girls Department” but then in 1931 became separate and became Sleighton Farm School.

The History of the Old Sleighton Farm School

The property of Sleighton School dates back to very early times, and the very first landowner, the man who received the grant from William Penn, was Henry Sleighton, who the school was named after. Other early families included the Bakers, Darlingtons, and Evans. More about early landowners is mentioned in the “More Detailed History” section below.

The original farmhouse on the school side is said to date back to the early 1800s, the stone barn in the Sunken Gardens is likely the early 1800s, there’s a house off of Valley Rd known to date back to the early 1800s, and there’s the “Little House” and barn converted to a house that is said to date back to early 1800s. Again, the former owners of these properties are mentioned in the section below.

The school itself originally started out as the House of Refuge in Philadelphia in 1826, which eventually broke off into a boys and girls department in the late 1800s/early 1900s. They both moved into Glen Mills, a rural town in Delaware County PA. The boys school, founded in 1889, was known as the “Glen Mills School Boys Department”, and the girls school, founded in 1911, was known as the “Glen Mills School Girls Department”.

In 1931, the girls school separated from Glen Mills and became known as Sleighton Farm School. Most of the Old Sleighton Farm School was built in 1908. During this time period in the early 1900s, the cottages were erected along with a School House, John Sargent Administrative building, stone barn, and powerhouse. Many buildings were constructed a few years later, including the Falconer Educational Center, farm office, Gray-Trent building, and Chapel. The cottages changed names over the years, but are now known as Lucrettia Mott, Campbell, Watson, Robinson, Lincoln, Dubois-Miller, and Harrison. Former cottages destroyed by fire were Logan (1980s) and Washington (2014). The chapel was built in 1965, the gym was built in the 80s, and major improvements were made to the Gray-Trent VO-Tech center in the 1980s.

Sleighton was originally a farm school for girls. In the 60s I believe its status as a farm school was removed. In 1975, Old Sleighton Farm School was converted to a CO-ED facility, and eventually had more male students than females. In the late 90s, Old Sleighton Farm School had financial issues and Elwyn stepped in and formed what’s known as “Sleighton Inc.” The school eventually closed down in 2001 due to claimed financial difficulties and has remained vacant since.

The property has remained neglected and poorly maintained, and has fallen victim to mother nature and heavy vandalism. Currently, Old Sleighton Farm School is looking to rezone the property for future development. Middletown is currently rejecting rezoning due to density issues, and Elwyn is currently working to rezone Edgmonts 51 developable acres.

Historical Photos of the Old Sleighton Farm School

Abandoned Photos of the Sleighton Farm School

We prepared abandoned Photos made at the Sleighton Farm School. In 2002, the structures were determined as eligible for registration under the National Register of Historic Places, but due to the carelessness of many, no further action was ever taken to submit the property to a nomination process.