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| construction_ended =
 
| construction_ended =
 
| opened = 1890
 
| opened = 1890
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| closed = 1960's
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| closed =
 
| demolished =  
 
| demolished =  
 
| current_status = [[Demolished Institution|Demolished]]
 
| current_status = [[Demolished Institution|Demolished]]
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==History==
 
==History==
  
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Blythewood Sanitarium opened as a private institution for the mentally disturbed in 1905 in Stamford, Connecticut. Established by Boss Tweed for wealthy patients as an escape from New York City, the facility was built on fifty acres of wooded land, split down the middle by a stream which lead to a nearby pond. At its peak, Blythewood had eight main buildings, eight cottages, a chapel, an occupational therapy building, and a small golf course.
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"Perhaps fortunately for Marty's remaining shreds of pride, charity patients were never identified at Blythewood. As she rode through the big iron gate of the sanitarium, the contrast with Bellevue was "like going from Hell to Heaven.
  
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Blythewood was not like the three other sanitariums of Greenwich (Brooklea Farm and Crest View). It was exclusive - catering to many wealthy socialites and costing nearly $200 a week in 1924. <ref>Fleming, E. J. "The Life and Famous Death of MGM Director and Husband of Harlow." McFarland, 2009.</ref>
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Blythewood Sanitarium, once a private estate belonging to the notorious Boss Tweed, had opened in 1905 under the direction of Mrs. Anna C. Wiley, a nurse who had proved exceptionally successful with mentally disturbed patients.
  
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The patients were housed in four buildings. The main front building, described as a "gracious mansion with white columns <ref> Glimpses of Blythewood," The Blog of the Drug and Alcohol History Society. June 21, 2011. Accessed November 8th 2013. </ref> was the original house of the estate. The administrative center contained doctors' offices and a "graduate house" for patients who were soon to be discharged.
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Situated on fifty acres of rustic, wooded land bisected by a meandering stream, Blythewood at it's peak had eight main buildings, eight cottages, a chapel, a building for occupational therapy, and even a little golf course. Handsome naturalistic landscaping and shrubbery graced the grounds."
  
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The Forrest Building was the main residence and services building. It was three stories tall with clapboard siding, large brick chimneys at either end, and green awnings above the windows. There was also a medical facilities unit and the Occupational Building where patients could do arts and crafts or play piano.
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Most of the buildings are gone today, it was hard to figure out what building was what, but on my visit up to the present-day Church, I saw that the Chapel is still there.
  
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According to an account from Mrs. Marty Mann, patients were sent into a "lockup house" for observation after being admitted. Violent patients were moved into the "violent house," a small building far from the road. Patients would be sometimes be brought to this house in an ambulance and were restrained. Closer to the road was the "middle house". It had two floors, a finished attic, common rooms, and a small central dining room."
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Four separate buildings housed the seventy-five patients. Marty checked in at the main house next to the gate. This gracious mansion with white columns was the estate's original house. Blythewood's administrative center, it contained the doctors' offices as well as the "graduate house" for patients soon to be discharged...
  
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Mann also accounts:
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..After being admitted, patients were sent to the "lockup house." There they would be held a few hours or days for observation. Farthest from the road was what was called the "violent house." Many of the patients in this building arrived by ambulance. The violent house contained a padded cell. Marty could hear occasional screams when she was walking back from pottery class. Patients in the violent house were often restrained, with their hands tied. Closer to the road was the "middle house". It had two floors, a finished attic, common rooms, and a small central dining room."
  
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"Though the sanitarium had been established as primarily a psychiatric facility, its location in Greenwich was ironic regarding services to alcoholics. The town, a moneyed, educated, urbane bedroom community of New York City, had a reputation for widespread inebriety. As late as 1979, the problem of alcoholism was so pronounced that national study, reported in the Greenwich Time of July 30, 1979, called Greenwich the alcoholic capital of America, second only perhaps to the San Fernando Valley of California."<ref> Glimpses of Blythewood," The Blog of the Drug and Alcohol History Society. June 21, 2011. Accessed November 8th 2013. </ref>
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"Though the sanitarium had been established as primarily a psychatric facility, its location in Greenwich was ironic regarding services to alcoholics. The town, a moneyed, educated, urbane bedroom community of New York City, had a reputation for widespread inebriety. As late as 1979, the problem of alcoholism was so pronounced that national study, reported in the Greenwich Time of July 30, 1979, called Greenwich the alcoholic capital of America, second only perhaps to the San Fernando Valley of California."
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http://books.google.com/books?id=e2sR3myRlxsC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=%22Brooklea+Farm%22+sanatorium&source=bl&ots=nze-BwetPB&sig=kXHzOtxt03iqgXbOu6dPQTTjyUQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wyJ8UrrKJfKssATD6oDoAw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Brooklea%20Farm%22%20sanatorium&f=false
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edit
  
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The facility closed some time in the 1960's and was demolished. The chapel was preserved, and still remains next to the Greenwich Baptist Church.
 
  
 
== Images of Blythewood Sanitarium ==
 
== Images of Blythewood Sanitarium ==
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*[http://pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/glimpses-of-blythewood/ Blythewood Sanitarium at the Alcohol and Drug Historical Society]
 
*[http://pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/glimpses-of-blythewood/ Blythewood Sanitarium at the Alcohol and Drug Historical Society]
 
*[http://krystle-ann.blogspot.com/2010/10/blythewood-sanitarium-inc.html An account of the death of Mrs. Albert Biggs]
 
*[http://krystle-ann.blogspot.com/2010/10/blythewood-sanitarium-inc.html An account of the death of Mrs. Albert Biggs]
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*[http://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cofairfield/pages/fairfieldfotos/fffotos_003.htm Photos of Blythewood]
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*[http://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cofairfield/pages/fairfieldfotos/fffotos_003.htm Photos of Blytheview]
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*[http://pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/glimpses-of-blythewood/ Glimpses of Blythewood: The Story of Mrs. Marty Mann]
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[[Category:Single Building Institutions]]
 
[[Category:Single Building Institutions]]
 
[[Category:Demolished Institution]]
 
[[Category:Demolished Institution]]
 
[[Category:Connecticut]]
 
[[Category:Connecticut]]

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