What to See in Mansfield - Top Sights and Attractions

Famous Romanesque Revival prison. The Ohio State Reformatory, also known as the Mansfield Reformatory, is a historic prison located in Mansfield, Ohio in the United States. It was built between 1886 and 1910 and remained in operation until 1990, when a United States Federal Court ruling ordered the facility to be closed. While this facility was seen in a number of films, TV shows and music videos, it was made famous by the film The Shawshank Redemption when it was used for most scenes of the movie.

The Ohio State Reformatory is currently open to tourists 4 days a week from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. from April 1 to September 2. There are also tours on weekends from February 2 to March 31 and holiday tours on weekends from November 23 to December 23.^[1]

Museum in Mansfield, Ohio. The Mansfield Memorial Museum, originally Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, is in downtown Mansfield, Ohio. It was founded in 1887 and opened to the public in 1889 as the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. The museum's collections include various exhibits including Native American artifacts, American Civil War memorabilia, and collections from Asia and Africa. The museum originally housed a library and theater. Oscar Cobb of Chicago designed the building. The building was built by noted architect F.F. Schnitzer, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Grand Army of the Republic has space upstairs in the building.

Elektro, an early robot, is part of the museum's collection.^[2]

Botanical garden in Mansfield, Ohio. The Kingwood Center Gardens is a historic 47-acre site with a house, Kingwood Hall, gardens and greenhouses located in Mansfield, Ohio.

Mr. Charles Kelley King began making his fortune when he was hired by the Ohio Brass Company as its first electrical engineer in 1893. He led Ohio Brass into new ventures, particularly the manufacture of electrical fittings for railroads and trolleys. Mr. King was responsible for much of the company's success and he eventually became president and chairman of the Board of Ohio Brass. Mr. King was married and divorced twice, and had no children. The house and grounds were built in 1926 for King and his second wife, Luise, with grounds designed by Cleveland landscape architecture firm Pitkin and Mott. One year after his death in 1952, the 47-acre estate opened as a public garden to a private foundation that continues to operate Kingwood Center today.

On November 7, 1976, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.^[3]

Museum in Mansfield, Ohio. Oak Hill Cottage, built in 1847 by John Robinson, superintendent of the Sandusky, Mansfield, and Newark Railroad, is an historic Gothic Revival brick house with Carpenter Gothic ornamentation located at 310 Springmill Street in Mansfield, Ohio, in the United States. All of the furnishings and artifacts inside the house are original to about the 1870s and have come down to the present, intact.

Robinson purchased the land for his home in April 1844 from Edward Wilkinson. He named the plot White Oak Hill. His home was later called, “The one perfect Gothic House I’ve seen in the United States,” by Ralph Adams Cram, architect of the New York Cathedral. The house was built near the railroad for the convenience of its owner, who wished to live near Mansfield's railroad and business district.

After falling on hard times financially, Robinson returned the house to the Farmer's Bank, which held it until it was bought by Mr. Harvey Hall in 1861.

It was acquired by its most prominent and famous owner, Dr. Johannes Jones in 1864 and was the home of his family for over a century. It was Dr. Jones’ wife Francis Barr Jones and their four daughters Madell, Bess, Ida, and Leile who made Oak Hill Cottage a showplace and the centerpiece of Mansfield's leading social affairs at the time.

It was the habit of Dr. Jones to hold informal receptions for musicians who were visiting and performing in Mansfield at Oak Hill.

Dr. Jones died in 1895 and his funeral services were held at Oak Hill Cottage. His wife Francis lived on in the home until her death in 1912.

The last private owner of the house was the Jones’ youngest daughter Leile Barrett. She maintained the home until her own declining fortunes and failing health caused her to allow the house to fall into disrepair. This led her to sell Oak Hill to the Richland County Historical Society in 1965.

The Historical Society restored the house and the furniture inside to about the year 1870, which was around when most of the items inside the house had been bought originally. It was finally open for public tours in 1983.

Oak Hill Cottage was the setting of The Green Bay Tree, Mansfield native and grand-nephew to Mrs. Jones Louis Bromfield's first novel. His fond memories of spending time in the home caused him to memorialize it as “Shane’s Castle” in the 1924 novel.

On June 11, 1969, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is now the Oak Hill Cottage and Museum.^[4]

Museum in Mansfield, Ohio. The Mansfield Art Center is an art center in the Woodland neighborhood of Mansfield, Ohio, United States. The art center is operated by the Mansfield Fine Arts Guild, which was founded as a non-profit arts organization in 1945. Prior to the opening of the Center, the Guild presented exhibits and classes in private spaces but demand increased and the Guild had temporary homes throughout the 1950s and 1960s that included: the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library, the Leland Hotel and Kingwood Center. H. Daniel Butts III was hired as the Guild's first full-time Director and he was tasked with establishing a permanent home for the museum, its collection and classes. The building opened in 1971 and was designed by architect Don Hisaka. In the same year, it was the recipient of a Progressive Architecture National Citation Award.

In addition to a range of classes and hosting juried exhibits for the American Craft Council, the museum helps to celebrate the community's history.^[6]

Theater in Mansfield, Ohio. The Renaissance Theatre, previously known as the Ohio Theatre, is a restored movie palace-type theater located at 138 Park Ave. W in Mansfield, Ohio. The 1,402-seat theater opened on January 18, 1928, as the Ohio Theatre and serves today as the largest performing arts center in North-Central Ohio. The Renaissance Performing Arts Association operates the facility and annually produces and presents approximately 40 productions consisting of Broadway-style musical theater shows, classical music concerts, comedy shows, educational performances and outreach programs, popular music concerts, special events, and family shows. The Renaissance is also home to the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra and the Miss Ohio Scholarship Pageant, the state competition for the Miss America Pageant.^[8]