Museum At Old Lorton Prison Will Honor Women's Suffrage Movement

LORTON, VA — A new museum honoring the women's suffrage movement is set to open at the old Lorton Correctional facility in January to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. The Lucy Burns Museum will present the history of the women's fight for the right to vote, including a detailed look at the imprisonment of suffragists arrested in 1917 for picketing the White House.

Because of Burns' involvement as a leader of U.S. women's suffrage and her jailing at the facility, the Workhouse Arts Center chose to name the museum after her. During the so-called Night of Terror in November 1917, Burns joined other peaceful picketers as part of a campaign for the right to vote. The incident turned violent, as police arrested, beat, kicked and chained the picketers.

Burns and the other women were sent to the Lorton site, which was then known as the Occoquan Workhouse. In jail at the Lorton facility, Burns joined many other women in hunger strikes to demonstrate their commitment to their cause, asserting that they were political prisoners.

Inside the workhouse facility, guards treated the women brutally, seeking to exact revenge on the women for campaigning for the right to vote. Burns was chained to the top of her cell and forced to hang overnight. The guards smashed another woman's head against an iron bed, leaving her unconscious. A total of 72 women were imprisoned at the workhouse for the peaceful protest at the White House.

In 2018, the Workhouse Arts Center completed renovations of a 10,000 square foot barracks building at the old prison, which closed in 2001, to house the Lucy Burns Museum. By the end of December, the Workhouse Arts Center is expected to complete the installation of history exhibits for the museum. The Workhouse Arts Center funded, designed and renovated the new museum.

In July 2002, the federal government sold the prison property to Fairfax County. The site has been part of the D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory Historic District since 2006. The Workhouse Arts Center opened to the public in September 2008.

The museum is scheduled to open to the public on Jan. 25. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for May 9.