May 8th, 2009
Maine’s Health and Human Services Committee co-chair, Senator Joseph Brannigan, has suggested that the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center in Bangor be closed. His reasoning is that doing so will save the state from having to make more painful cuts elsewhere.
Closing Dorothea Dix would leave the state with one public psych hospital (in Augusta). However, since there’s little to no support for the idea from Maine’s governor, and strong opposition from the Maine State Employees union, it seems unlikely that the hospital will be closed any time soon. It’s worth noting though that it’s being discussed.
You can find more details about this development here: Closure of Bangor Psychiatric Center Proposed to Save Money. You can also listen to Maine Public Broadcasting’s piece about it here: Legislators Eyeing Possible Closure Of Psychiatric Hospital To Save Money.
May 6th, 2009
This summer, the city of Fergus Falls (Minnesota) will be holding an auction to sell off items from the former Fergus Falls State Hospital. Items include tools, medical equipment and office supplies — “everything from crutches to wardrobes to giant kitchen mixers.” The auction will probably happen in June, but the city hasn’t yet set an exact date for it. You can read all about it here: City Selling RTC Artifacts.
As usual, the most intriguing part about that Fergus Falls Journal article is the comments section (no offense to the FFJ reporters, it’s just that the juicy gossip naturally shows up in the public’s commentary). A few readers express concern that the proposed college will never materialize and criticize the lack of publicly available information about it. There’s also some speculation that the building is being looted and that an antique pool table was spirited off to someone’s private residence.
May 1st, 2009
There’s a new book out by photographer Katherine Anderson featuring photographs of several former New England asylums, including the Kirkbide buildings in Danvers, Worcester, and Northampton, Massachusetts. In addition to the pictures, the book also contains an extensive history of mental illness and asylums as well as “feeble-mindedness” and the state school system. The book is called Behind the Walls – Shadows of New England’s Asylums and you can preview (and purchase) it here: Behind the Walls.
April 28th, 2009
Since the forum receives so little traffic, I thought it might be a good idea to point out a recent series of posts by someone who spent several years at Traverse City State Hospital. Ronl, became a resident of the hospital in 1965 when he was 12 years old, and his memories (both good and bad) make for fascinating reading.
You can find them here: Forgotten Children – Hall 18, Hall 17.
April 15th, 2009
Fox’s hit television series “House” is currently shooting at the former Greystone Park State Hospital according to this article on NJ.com: TV Show “House” to Film at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. It sounds like the production is trying to keep things under wraps for now, so there’s not much information other than that the hospital will “play” the fictional Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital on the show.
Unfortunately, scenes from Greystone probably won’t appear on the program until next season. Also, the area will be closed to the public while filming takes place. I won’t be surprised if a few Greystone “regulars” manage to do a little spying though:) Not that I recommend or endorse such things mind you.
Another little interesting tidbit from that article is that a movie titled Marvin’s Room
was filmed at Greystone Park. I wasn’t aware of that and will have to check it out to see what kind of footage of the hospital it has.
April 6th, 2009
According to a write-up on Preservation New Jersey’s blog, the state’s governor, Jon Corzine, has stated that he favors demolition of the Greystone Kirkbride: Governor Corzine Apparently Favors Demolition of Greystone. While the governor doesn’t have final say on what happens to Greystone, the office does have a lot of power and I’m sure Corzine could have a strong influence on the fate of the building if he wanted to. Not being from NJ, I don’t really know much about Corzine or how much he’s involved with the future of the former hospital campus. Maybe someone from NJ could chime in about that?
I also can’t help but mention that while reading Preservation NJ’s blog’s post and another article about the hospital by the same, I was surprised by the appearance of my Greystone admin photo (without any acknowledgment of its source to boot). It’s been a continuing annoyance since I started KB.com that some people believe that if a picture is online, that means it’s somehow in the public domain and they can do whatever they want with it. In this case, the people using my picture are working to preserve a building I also want saved, so I’m not going to do anything about it (except write this whiney post;). Luckily not too long ago I decided to watermark my online photos with a copyright declaration. It’s something I strongly recommend to anybody posting photos online.
March 31st, 2009
Yesterday, forum member WSH posted some pictures of the restored first-floor hallway of the Weston admin. You can see them here. It’s a relatively small step toward restoring the building, but I’m sure it was still a good amount of work and it looks great.
March 16th, 2009
Here are a few recent items in the press concerning Kirkbride buildings…
1) RTC College Sets Sights on January 2010
According to this story, the cross-cultural Chinese business school destined to take over the former Fergus Falls Kirkbride may open by early next year.
2) Renewed Efforts to Save Old Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County
Morris County doesn’t want the Greystone Kirkbride, but they do want some of the land around it. Apparently the state government won’t have it. It’s all or nothing as far as they’re concerned.
3) UA Making Plans to Weather Storm
This article doesn’t go into much detail about the University of Alabama’s impending purchase of the Bryce Hospital campus, but it’s worth noting that the school still plans on making the acquisition in spite of the turbulent economic climate.
March 13th, 2009
The day after I posted about the new Saint Eizabeths Hospital page, the DC Preservation League announced a new tour for April 4th. Unfortunately the tour filled up quickly and this post is pretty much useless—except to inform you that you can sign up for the waiting list.
Maybe they’ll schedule a tour for another day if there’s enough interest. Signing up for the waiting list is the best way to be notified if that happens, and to show the League that there’s enough interest.
March 10th, 2009
I finally got around to adding a page for the Kirkbride building in Washington, DC: Saint Elizabeths Hospital. I was fortunate enough to get on the DC Preservation League’s tour of the West Campus this past December. Unfortunately, the sun was low on the horizon and behind the building. So the exterior pictures of the Kirkbride’s facade are a bit dark and flat. Oh well. The League may be putting together tours of the campus again this Spring. If I’m lucky I’ll get another chance to take pictures when there’s more light on the front of the building, and more greenery around too.
Even though the Saint Elizabeths Kirkbride isn’t on my list of favorites (I’d even go as far as saying it’s on the ugly side), the hospital campus itself is really beautiful. The view of Washington, DC alone is fantastic. But the variety of trees which fill out the grounds are also attractive and cast some amazing shadows. Then there’s the sense of history you feel when walking around all those old historic buildings on the outskirts of the nation’s capital.
If tours are given again this Spring, I really recommend signing up. There may not be many more chances to see this Kirkbride after the Department of Homeland Security starts transforming the West Campus into its new headquarters. Most likely, you won’t get to see the inside of the Kirkbride on the tour, but walking around the campus is interesting enough and won’t cost you anything either. If I hear anything about the tours, I’ll mention it here. So stay tuned.
