Main Page/Upcoming Events/6-25-2010 -Myths & Legends: Stories from the Fergus Falls State Hospital

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Myths & Legends: Stories from the Fergus Falls State Hospital[edit]

Date: Friday, June 25
Time: 6:30 pm
Where:
Fergus Falls State Hospital
Minn. Hwy. 297
Fergus Falls, MN
Description:

Join the Otter Tail County Historical Society for Myths & Legends: Stories from the Fergus Falls State Hospital on Friday, June 25, 6:30 p.m. at the state hospital.

"We are ready for the patients." Stated Dr. Alonzo Williamson, the state hospital's first superintendent in the July 31, 1890 Fergus Falls Weekly Journal. "The entire theory and practice of this institution will be based on the fact that these [patients] are not criminals for whom we have to care for, but sick people - brain sick."

For over 100 years thousands of people entered the state hospital. Did the hospital uphold Dr. Williamson's initial description of brain sickness? Or did officials succumb to the brutal reality that defined state mental institutions in the 19th and 20th centuries?

The Otter Tail County Historical Society examines some of the state hospital's countless stories, legends and myths with this tour. People should park in the Government Services parking lot and proceed to the front of the west section of the hospital complex. From this location the tour will proceed around the building where stories will be told of happenings behind the bricks and mortar.

This is not an architectural or facilities tour. It is a storytelling tour meant to bring the history of the Fergus Falls State Hospital to life.

The cost of the tour is $5. For more information contact the historical society at 218-736-6038. [1]