The Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane

New York

Image was found on Google.

I have had a fascination with not only serial killers but old asylum and hospitals. The stories about what it was like in them, the history behind them, and what is left of them. Even the abandoned ones that are falling apart tell a story. You just have to know how to find the stories when looking at them or touring them. Here is The Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane.

The Willard asylum opened near Seneca Lake, New York, in the year 1869. This asylum was built as an alternative to prisons and poorhouses that typically housed patients who suffered from mental illness. Most poor houses back in that time usually had their residents chained to their beds, walls, or even locked in cages. That is pretty messed up.

The goal at Willards was for doctors and nurses to treat patients and to teach them skills they would need to rejoin society if and when they were able to. Doctors at Willards almost immediately saw the shocking changes in the patients who arrived there from other facilities. Patients health improved. They were able to explore the ground and interact with other residents. Which really does make a difference for people’s health.

Patient #1 Mary Rote. She was the first resident at Willards. She was suffering from dementia. Before arriving at Willards, she had spent 10 years in a county poorhouse in chains. Mary came from the Columbia County poorhouse. It was said when they went into her cell to get her on the steamboat that she did not have a bed or any clothing in her cell. She had a blanket on her while she was crouched in the corner. Once she arrived at Willards, her chains were finally removed. At Willards, the staff had made sure she was dresses and groomed daily. She was treated like a human, not an animal. Her physical and mental health began to improve.

A few months after Mary arrived, all of Willards' 250 beds were filled. They began to prepare for more. Instead of adding on to the already standing building of Willard, they built a campus of detached buildings. The following is what the buildings contained. A wardens house, over looking the dock, numerous dormitory style buildings to house residents and staff members, a morgue, a fire department, a nurses station, a generator building, and an all purpose gymnasium that…