Eastern State Hospital/Lexington Ky

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5:12:11 AM - Sat, Apr 17th 2010
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Had a thread for the hospital on the old forum. I'll start another one here. ESH is currently the nation's oldest continually operational state hospital at the same facility, but a new one is coming in the next few years. The cemetery has been moved several times since 1956 & contains 4,000-6,000 sets of remains of former patients. Likely there are many more unknown graves, perhaps as many as 10,000 or more.

Recently found out that several former patients were buried anonymously at Lexington Cemetery. When they died their bodies were donated to the University of Kentucky for medical research. There was a 5-7 year gap between their death and burial. No idea if they had given permission for this.
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Also found the dedication marker for Dr. Wysocki. He survived a concentration camp in Poland during WW 2, came to the US after the war. His entire family had been killed so he left for the US. He had a degree in psychology and somehow ended up working at Eastern State Hospital. A retired nurse told me he was popular with the patients, probably due to what he had been through.
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The only marker at the cemetery
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4:22:23 AM - Wed, Jun 2nd 2010
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Forgot I started this thread & never added to it. Had a Memorial Day event at the cemetery, most eventful thing was finding a human vertebrae. I'm doubting the report of the remains being 3 feet deep. This was about 5 inches down.

Talked with someone at the hospital about tours. They will be more available for those interested since the new hospital is going to start building soon while at the same time BCTC will start their work at the current ESH campus at the same time. For anyone that has the misfortune of going through Lexington KY & wants info on tours, let me know. Time for random photos!

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4:40:42 AM - Wed, Jun 2nd 2010
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Close-up of the laundry building, this will be preserved & re-used by BCTC when they move in.
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The corncrib, there's a much better photo of it in Chris Payne's book. It also is going to be preserved.
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The ballroom in the admin building. Another to be preserved, used to be home of the "Lunatic Ball" once a month. Unfortunately there's some water damage, it hasn't been used since the 1970s, but the curtains are washed every month.
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The rear of the admin, think I was trying to get details of the brickwork.
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11:33:14 AM - Wed, Jun 2nd 2010
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lol at the curtains being washed every month. Good to hear about the preservation and tours, I don't get out that way much but I might have to find an excuse some time. That corn crib is pretty freaking cool.

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11:49:25 AM - Wed, Jun 2nd 2010
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That place looks very interesting. I agree with Thomasp94 about the curtains, kind of strange, but cool. I'm glad they are trying to preserve the place. Sadly, it's a little bit out of my way, otherwise I'd take up one of those tours.

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4:12:22 AM - Sat, Jun 5th 2010
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Yeah the curtain thing started with someone that recently retired but they still do it. I was told it's so they look good from the outside, not sure many people even notice though. One of these days I'll have to get more interior photos. I'm usually in areas where there are patients so I usually don't have the camera or tripod with me.

These 2 photos I tried to get the Admin & the west wing. Depends on the time of year & traffic.
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5:23:43 AM - Wed, Sep 22nd 2010
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After several years of begging/pleading/complaining the new fence is going up at the cemetery. There's an issue with the new entrance, seems the wrought iron is taking longer then expected & a marker with names is still being argued.

Before
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After
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11:41:14 AM - Thu, Sep 23rd 2010
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Looks much better with that black fence! Nice work!

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12:51:49 PM - Thu, Sep 23rd 2010
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Quote:Thomasp94 Thu 23rd 11:41 am
Looks much better with that black fence! Nice work!


I agree, that fence does make it look much better. When did you guys put in that large memorial stone?

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2:54:46 AM - Sat, Sep 25th 2010
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I was surprised what a difference just replacing the old fence made! The rest of the project should make it even better. As for the marker, according to a retired nurse, it's been there since the early 1990s. The hospital staff collected money for it, the state didn't pay anything, what a surprise.

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4:19:46 AM - Sat, Oct 23rd 2010
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There was an open house/tour at ESH Weds., mostly politicians & KCTCS bosses. It was mostly the same stuff I've been hearing for the past 2 years. Apparently most of the people thought there were no patients left, meh. Demolition of 1 section of the old female wards will start in December & there was some debate about the Gragg building being preserved or not. Anyway, here's copies of some of the paperwork that was handed out.

The property as it is now, red buildings highlighted are supposed to be preserved, the rest demolished. There is a chance Gragg (57 & 58) might be saved.
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This is the "After" view when phase 1 is finished.
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The long-term view, 20 years from now.
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1:22:27 PM - Sat, Oct 23rd 2010
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It almost looks like in the long run they don't plan on saving much of anything. While it looks like they might save some of the building in the short run, that 20 year look at the campus is not that encouraging.

The minimum is that it looks like ESH will stay in the business of helping those with mental problems. I'd love to see more of the historic campus saved for the long run.

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11:35:36 AM - Mon, Oct 25th 2010
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I agree, that sucks they are going to tear so much of the hospital down. At least they are keeping something I guess, that is more than can be said for a lot of the nice Kirkbrides we lost over the last few years.

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3:42:47 AM - Sat, Oct 30th 2010
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Yeah, on one hand it isn't very encouraging but on the other it's better then the original plan which was to demolish everything. We have another meeting mid-November, so I'll be able to raise more questions then at the last one. I'm not getting my hopes up.

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6:28:30 AM - Wed, Nov 10th 2010
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Didn't have a camera with me Tuesday but there's some activity. The University of Kentucky has people digging ahead of a planned temporary road for the demolition/construction equipment. I was told the state gave them 80 hours of work to finish, but if they find graves it could make things interesting. The fact this isn't public information & they gave the researchers a deadline makes me think the state doesn't have the best intentions to put it nicely. The meeting on the 15th should be interesting!

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4:06:31 AM - Sat, Nov 13th 2010
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A couple of quick photos.

The UK group was working on excavating on the foundation of an old building
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The rest of the fenced in area that they're going to be working on before demolition. The wing to the right of the "tower" is what will be coming down.
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And the update of the new entrance for the cemetery.
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