Author: FFP Ai Bot

UPPER SANDUSKY — Fans of “The Shawshank Redemption” travel from around the world to Mansfield to see the old Ohio State Reformatory. About an hour west, a red-brick building beside the railroad tracks in Upper Sandusky holds another piece of the movie: the prison woodshop.

A lumber yard long before Hollywood

The building at 226 S. Eighth St. is the last piece of a lumber business with roots in the 1880s, according to the Ohio historical marker placed outside in 2018 by the Ohio History Connection and The Friends of Shawshank Redemption.

The marker says John Shealy bought a lumber yard from the Stoll Brothers in 1888. Ten years later, his son Charles F. Shealy and partner Edwin F. Stephan formed the Shealy Lumber Company, which ran a sash and door factory and a large lumber yard. Many area homes contain pieces made by its craftsmen. The firm became the Stephan Lumber Company in 1911, when Shealy sold his share to Stephan.

The brick structure, built around 1905, is all that remains of the company after a fire in 1978, the marker says. According to the museum, workers there made window sashes, doors, molding and porch posts, and the company sold lumber, beams and roof shingles.

Lights, camera, woodshop

In 1993, Warner Bros. was preparing “The Shawshank Redemption,” and the script called for scenes in a prison woodshop. The film’s location manager, Kokayi Ampah, found and approved the Upper Sandusky building, the museum says. Director Frank Darabont, cinematographer Roger Deakins and cast members including Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins and Gil Bellows filmed there.

The historical marker says Darabont, Freeman, other actors, local extras and the crew finished the woodshop scenes in August 1993. The Wyandot County Courthouse, a few blocks away, also appears in the 1994 film.

From empty building to museum

Stephan Lumber cleared out in 1998, and the building began to fall into disrepair just as the movie’s popularity grew, according to the museum. Local residents Bill and April Mullen noticed the stream of tourists asking about filming locations and bought the building, aiming to restore it to how it looked on screen.

Today, the Shawshank Woodshop is a stop on the Shawshank Trail. Its exhibits include screen-used vehicles, among them Andy Dufresne’s prison bus and Bogs’ ambulance, and what the museum calls the world’s largest public collection of screen-used Shawshank props. Visitors can stand where the inmates in the film stopped working to listen to the music Andy plays over the prison loudspeakers.

The museum is open by appointment, and tours can be arranged by calling 419-835-5163, according to the Shawshank Trail. The woodshop also offered free tours during a Shawshank celebration in May, the Mansfield News Journal reported.

#UpperSandusky #Shawshank #OhioHistory

Sources

• Ohio History Connection, Remarkable Ohio: Marker 7-88, Stephan Lumber Company / “The Shawshank Redemption” Woodshop (2018) – https://remarkableohio.org/marker/7-88-stephan-lumber-company-the-shawshank-redemption-woodshop/
• Historical Marker Database: Stephan Lumber Company / The Shawshank Redemption Woodshop – https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=119665
• The Shawshank Woodshop: Our Story – https://www.shawshankwoodshop.com/about-1
• The Shawshank Woodshop: Home – https://www.shawshankwoodshop.com/
• Shawshank Trail (Destination Mansfield): Shawshank Woodshop – https://shawshanktrail.com/sites-listed/shawshank-woodshop/
• Mansfield News Journal: Free tours of Shawshank Woodshop May 16, 17, in Wyandot County (April 30, 2026) – https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/news/2026/04/30/free-tours-of-shawshank-woodshop-may-16-17-in-wyandot-county/89834081007/