History

President Theodore Roosevelt, at the turn of the twentieth century, appointed a penal commission to investigate the over-crowded and unsanitary conditions at the District of Columbia Jail. Based upon the penal commission’s recommendations, Congress approved the purchase of a 1,155-acre tract of land north of the Occoquan River, and the Occoquan Workhouse was created. It later became known as the Lorton Correctional Complex or the Lorton Reformatory. 

The first prisoners arrived in 1910 and their initial task was to build wooden structures to house themselves. In the 1920s, the prisoners replaced these buildings with brick structures using bricks manufactured by themselves at the on-site kiln complex. 

The prison was, for much of its history, an agricultural work camp. Intended to be self-sufficient, the prison developed extensive agricultural operations: cultivated fields; pastureland; an orchard/cannery; a poultry farm; hog ranch; slaughterhouse; dairy; blacksmith shop, and a sawmill. Along with all of these functions, it also contained feed, hay, and storage barns.

By the late 1980s, the prison was known more for its over-crowding and disorganization than for President Roosevelt’s rehabilitation program, becoming representative of the nation’s difficulties with correctional facilities. Federal legislation enacted in 1997 required the prison to be closed by December 31, 2001, with the last prisoner leaving in November of 2001. In 2002 the land was sold to Fairfax County for $4.2 million dollars, with the understanding that the land was to be used for open space, parkland, or recreation use.

A group of community leaders proposed a plan to transform a 55-acre portion of the former prison facility into a cultural arts center. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning in July of 2004, and the Workhouse Arts Center was born. A year later, the site was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. After several years of planning, adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of the historic buildings, the Workhouse Arts Center opened to the public in September 2008.