Building 25

 

 Early history of the site
BLDG25 stands on land that was a farm owned by the Creed family. A railroad which ran from Long Island City to Bethpage had a stop close to the campus.

In 1870, the New York State Legislature purchased a part of the Creed farm and a parcel of an adjacent National Rifle Association range to house the New York State National Guard. Several international rifle tournaments and technical improvements resulting in longer range bullets resulted in numerous complaints from surrounding residents. As a result the range was abandoned until 1912.


History of the hospital
In 1912, the Farm Colony of Brooklyn State Hospital was opened, with 32 patients, by the Lunacy Commission of New York State, reflecting a trend towards sending the swelling population of urban psychiatric patients to the fresh air of outlying areas. By 1918, BLDG25 own census had swollen to 150, housed in the abandoned National Guard barracks. By 1959, the hospital housed 7,000 inpatients. BLDG25 is described as a crowded, understaffed institution in Susan Sheehan's Is There No Place On Earth For Me? (1982), a biography of a patient pseudonymously called Sylvia Frumkin. Dr. Lauretta Bender, child neuropsychiatrist, has been reported as practicing there in the 1950s and '60s.

The hospital's census had declined by the early 1960s, however, as the introduction of new medications, along with other factors, led to the deinstitutionalization of many psychiatric patients around the world. In 1975, the land in Glen Oaks formerly used to raise food for the hospital was opened to the public as the Queens County Farm Museum. Another part of the campus in Glen Oaks was developed into the Queens Children's Psychiatric Center. In 2004, the remaining part of the campus land in Glen Oaks was developed into the Glen Oaks public school campus, including The Queens High School of Teaching. By 2006, other parts of the  campus had been sold and the inpatient census was down to 470.There are several disused buildings on the property, including the long-abandoned Building 25

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Insane Hospital

This Insane hospital started out as a county poor house. On September 29, 1938 the State of PA took control of the hospital as part of the "Full State Care Act". The legislature assumed responsibility for eight of the thirteen existing county public mental hospitals; the other five hospitals were closed. In 1971 a juvenile detention center took over a couple buildings at the hospital for six years before moving on to better accommodations. By 1979, the total statewide state hospital census was reduced to 10,573 patients and resulted in the closure of several state hospitals; This Insane Hospital was closed in 1980.

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Malone Psychiatric Center

 

Malone Psychiatric Center provides treatment, rehabilitation, and support to adults 18 and older with severe and complex mental illness.

Contemporary treatment is offered for persons whose mental illness requires hospitalization. The focus is on treatment and stabilization, with the goal of preparing the patient for return to his or her community. MPC emphasizes medication management, family support, activities that build social, vocational and educational skills, and careful aftercare planning in accomplishing this goal. Specializing in intermediate and extended inpatient treatment, MPC also provides supportive residential care a Residential Care Facility for Adults and a State Operated Community Residence on campus. In addition, MPC provides varying levels of community based mental health services in New York counties and a specialized statewide service for people who are deaf and mentally ill.

Located in NY, MPC shares a multi-service campus with other state and voluntary agencies. Included on this 600-acre campus is the Nathan Kline Institute (NKI), a distinguished OMH research facility affiliated with the New York University Department of Psychiatry.
MPC is part of a cooperative network of county, voluntary, and state mental health providers serving Hudson Valley and parts of New York City. This network offers an array of clinical, social, residential, vocational, educational and case management services specializing in intermediate and extended inpatient treatment, supportive residential care, and comprehensive community based treatment and support.

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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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