De Ville for the Feeble Minded

 

 Construction began in 1911 but completion of the original design did not occur until the early 1930s. The institution was planned as a "farm colony," whereby patients were put to work raising animals and growing food. Superintendent Charles S. Little told the New York Times: "In order to make this plan a success, it is necessary to begin to train the feeble minded when they are children. The feeble minded, if taken at an early age can be trained to do things better than if the education of which they are capable is postponed until the less pliable years." The site was named for William Pryor Letchworth, who served on the New York State Board of Charities from 1873 to 1896. Letchworth Village was one of the largest and most progressive facilities for the mentally retarded in the United States. Situated on 2000 acres of farmland with the Towns of Haverstraw and Stony Point. It was designed as a self-supporting community comprised of 130 field stone buildings.
The facility closed on March 31, 1996, but administrative offices remained open until 2002. The campus sprawls across the boundaries of the towns of Stony Point and Haverstraw. Some of the buildings located within Stony Point have been adaptively-reused, while much of the Haverstraw section is neglected.

 

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RiverSide State Hospital

 

 RiverSide State Hospital  for the Insane Kirkbride sits on a hill overlooking the Hudson River in New York. Completed in 1871, it was built on land once owned by the Roosevelts. Frederick Clarke Withers designed the building, while Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux designed the grounds.

This Kirkbride is somewhat unique in that one wing is shorter than the other. While some Kirkbride buildings have lost parts of wings to demolition, in the case of Hudson River this feature was planned before construction was finished. Apparently there was an expectation of fewer female patients than male patients (the Kirkbride Plan stipulated that each sex be housed in its own wing), and despite the asymmetry, the building is considered complete.

The institution, now known as the State Hospital P for the Insane, has been downsized drastically and the Kirkbride building and much of the land and complex of buildings around it have been vacated. A private developer plans on adapting the property to a mixed residential/commercial community while maintaining it's historic character. On May 31st, 2007 a large fire broke out in the south wing of the Kirkbride building. A major portion of the wing was completely devastated. An investigation ruled that lightning was the cause.

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State Hospital M for the Insane

This is a New York State Hospital for the insane, incorporated in 1870 and opened in 1874. Since then over 11,000 patients have been admitted.

It is the finest Homœopathic Insane Institution in the world, and one of which the school may be justly proud, because since its establishment the treatment employed has ever been of the strictest homœopathicity and the results have been little short of marvelous.

There are 47 separate buildings, 12 of which are for the accommodation of patients, while the remainder supply every want that this village of 2,200 patients and 450 employees may need. The total acreage of the grounds is 543. A large farm is connected with the hospital, which is worked largely by the inmates.

It has a consulting staff of seven members and a large Training School for both sexes. There are 43 nurses in training, and further 42 nurses and 212 ward attendants employed.

The system of record keeping in this institution is as near perfect as is possible to attain perfection. It is the proud boast of this hospital that no narcotic or sleep-producing drugs have ever been found in its pharmacy.

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