History
The original idea originated in 1899, when James R. Dick, a superintendent of the Boys' Home of Montreal, suggested that a boys' home farm in the Laurentides, Laurentians be built and used for the training of Juvenile delinquency, delinquent boys. The farm was built in 1907, after eight years of planning, and a farm named ''Boys' Farm and Training School'' was built north of Montreal, in Shawbridge, a small town in the Laurentians. Although the farm was being used to house orphans, criminals under the age of 21 were sent there to serve time for charges such as robbery, assault, or theft. The farm had a separate charter granted in 1917, and was also sponsored later that same year by the Rotary Club of Toronto and Montreal, who proceeded to build a cottage on the farm. In total, the farm was sponsored for about $15,000 by the Rotary Club. Like other buildings in the village, the houses were built from local materials such as bricks, red bricks and fieldstone quarried from the rock falls of the foothills, Piedmont mountain cliffs right behind Shawbridge.Present
Shawbridge Boys' Farm is now called ''Shawbridge Youth Centres'', and is owned and operated by Batshaw Youth and Family Services, a government service meant to help families in difficulty. Although it is mostly used as a chain of group homes that are isolated from the community, it is also used as a youth detention center. Past inmates used to be able to visit, but not anymore because it is now used as a jail.References
External links
* {{Authority control 1899 establishments in Quebec Youth detention centres in Canada