Abandoned New York

July 13, 2015

Recordonline.com & Abandoned New York: Middletown Psychiatric Center Six Alarm Blaze

MIDDLETOWN — A six-alarm fire on Sunday gutted the hospital building of the former Middletown Psychiatric Center, drawing hundreds of firefighters from miles around.

The fire, at 141 Monhagen Ave., broke out sometime about 6 a.m., according to Facebook postings. But official details were hard to come by Sunday, since firefighters were working at the scene into the night.

Officials did not return several requests for information, and it was unclear if there had been any injuries as a result of the fire.

Though the exterior of the four-story brick building remained intact, smoke poured from the upper windows well into the evening. The building, which dates back to the 1800s, has been abandoned for at least a decade, with no electricity or running water, said a woman who has explored inside on many occasions.

“I’m into urban exploration, so I’m quite familiar with the building,” said Cathy Harper of Middletown, who said she’d been inside just two weeks ago. “People go in there all the time. There’s a fence around it, but the gate is always wide open.”

Harper, 45, said she’d lived briefly at the homeless shelter in the same sprawling complex when she was 18. “That’s when I fell in love with this place,” she said. “I do have a soft spot for abandoned buildings.”

Inside, Harper said, the stories of the former patients could be gleaned from old files and records that sat out in open cartons. Old beds, desks and tables were strewn about the interior, she said. Caskets were arranged around the perimeter of one of the rooms.

A smaller fire broke out in late May in a storage building next door to the former Solomon Kleiner Center, once used for occupational and recreational activities.

The state phased out the Psych Center in 2006, and most of the buildings have been left abandoned. The city, which is exploring a number of possibilities for redevelopment of the grounds, recently sold 7.5 acres to a Falun Gong-affiliated group that hopes to build a school of fine arts.

In February, the Common Council approved a resolution to spend $10,000 to hire an engineering firm to do an environmental study on 13 state-owned buildings at the site.

See More Here

Website | 500PX | FB Fan Page | Facebook

March 10, 2015

State Hospital 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.