When I was a kid growing up in the 60s, The Gatesville State School for Boys was the primary place that juvenile delinquent boys were housed. That place had a long and not always a glorious past and was closed in 1979.
Following is some history of that place that brought fear in young boys when they were told “You’d Better Straighten Up Or You’ll End Up In Gatesville”. Believe me, we understood that language.
We grew up at about the same time, but separated by half a continent. The “you might end up in Gatesville” that you heard was echoed, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles (where I grew up) by “maybe you should be sent to Camarillo.” (Camarillo was, at that time, the location of a state ‘mental hospital’ about 40 miles away). It closed eventually, but when a high-school classmate told me a few years ago that he now resides in Camarillo (a nice town), I had to think twice.
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No one liked the prospect of ending up at Gatesville.
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