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June 23, 2011 Historic buildings demolished at former Westboro State Hospital

A piggery built in 1890 and a barn built in 1918 were razed before the Massachusetts Historical Commission or the Northboro Historical Commission were notified. As part of the Westborough State Hospital property, both farm buildings are listed on the state and national registers of historic places.

June 19, 2011 Group wants to show respect for thousands of patients buried in Willard State Hospital cemetery

This is where 5,776 patients of Willard State Hospital are buried. They either died at the large psychiatric hospital or were returned here after they died. Willard was closed by the state in 1995, (it’s now home to a state corrections drug rehab center) although Colleen says there was a burial as recently as 2000. At one time, I could have looked out at hundreds of metal tomb stones sticking out of the ground. Now the place has gone back to nature; only a few of the old markers are visible.

June 9, 2011 Judge OKs Bull Street land sale

A state circuit judge on Wednesday approved the sale of the 165-acre South Carolina State Hospital campus on Columbia’s Bull Street to an Upstate developer in one of the most anticipated and significant land deals in city history. The $15 million that developer Bob Hughes has offered to pay for the property was ruled as “adequate compensation” by Judge Ernest Kinard Jr. of Camden. The sale now must be approved by the State Budget and Control Board, which is expected to decide at its meeting next week.

May 31, 2011 Mental hospital closure delayed

The deadline to close a state psychiatric hospital in Rome has been pushed back amid advocates’ concerns that community services for mentally ill and developmentally disabled individuals wouldn’t be ready in time. Tentatively slated to close June 30, Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital will remain open until at least Sept. 30, as the state continues to roll out new community services in North Georgia, including crisis stabilization units for the mentally ill.

May 30, 2011 Electric shock treatment: Brutal or life-saving?

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Recently, actress and writer Carrie Fisher told Oprah Winfrey that she receives electroconvulsive therapy regularly to treat depression caused by her bipolar disorder. Taken aback, Winfrey asked, "They still do that?" Yes, they do. About 100,000 people in the United States receive electroconvulsive therapy, better known as electric shock treatment, every year for severe mental illness, but that number may be surprising to those who thought ECT went out of favor with the advent of better psychotropic drugs.

May 25, 2011 Case made for RTC preservation

That was the message Tuesday at M State, where about 50 Fergus Falls residents gathered at an event hosted by Friends of the Kirkbride. The goal of the event was to show that economic development and historical preservation – at the Regional Treatment Center and at other places around the city – are not mutually exclusive concepts. “It’s not only an academic, esoteric thing to say that (historic buildings) are part of our heritage,” said event host Chris Schuelke, executive director of the Otter Tail County Historical Society. He introduced five speakers to show that historic sites can be converted into economic drivers while keeping a city’s heritage intact.

May 24, 2011 RTC demolition put on hold

The phased demolition plan for Parcel D of the Regional Treatment Center was put on hold until late fall after a special meeting Monday where many urged the city council not to move forward with the plan. Among those requesting that demolition be delayed was Global Athlete Village, a Minnesota-based non-profit service organization interested in the Kirkbride building. “They’re working on putting together a proposal, but they had urged the council not to proceed with any demolition at this time,” said City Administrator Mark Sievert.

May 5, 2011 One woman hospitalized after blaze at Eastern State Hospital

A woman was hospitalized after she was burned during an intense, but short-lived natural gas fire on the grounds of Eastern State Hospital Lexington on Thursday afternoon. The woman, who was not identified, is a maintenance worker who apparently struck a gas line with a lawn mower, which sparked the fire that ignited a nearby outbuilding

May 4, 2011 Developers Receive Statewide Award For Redevelopment Of State Hospital

A Traverse City historic preservation project is one of a handful being recognized this year by the Governor's office. The rehabilitation of the former Northern Michigan Asylum is about one-third complete

April 30, 2011 Patient sets fire at Vermont State Hospital

A Vermont State Hospital employee extinguished a fire in a patient’s room just after midnight on Thursday. The fire, which was intentionally set by a patient, was in the middle of the room, according to a press release from the Vermont State Police.

April 28, 2011 Fire breaks out at Henryton Hospital‎

Firefighters were alerted this evening for a reported fire at the Henryton State Hospital. Firefighters arrived to find heavy fire through the roof of a large 4 story building. Numerous Firefighters from Carroll, Howard, and Baltimore Counties were called to assist. The Sykesville Fire Department has responded to numerous fires at the abandoned state hospital in the past several years. The hospital has been shut down by the state and there is no electric or utilities to the facility. It continues to be a problem for firefighter safety when we are called to the scene. In recent years the facility has been a hot spot for malicious teenagers and ghost hunters. Related Article, Related Article

April 26, 2011 Excavations continue at Eastern State Hospital

Excavations are still in progress on the grounds of Eastern State Hospital Lexington, where a team of archaeologists are exhuming human remains of former patients from the 1840s to the 1860s. ESH, located on West Fourth Street in Lexington, is the second oldest psychiatric facility in the country and is thought to have thousands of bodies buried in different locations near the hospital. The Kentucky Archaeology Survey was commissioned by the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet to examine the ESH area, where construction for the new Bluegrass Community and Technical College construction will begin.

February 22, 2011 Unearthing Of Remains Found At Eastern State Hospital Starting Wednesday

On Wednesday, the Finance and Administration Cabinet's Division of Engineering and a team of archaeologists from the Kentucky Archaeological Survey are scheduled to begin exhuming human remains found in an unmarked cemetery on the grounds of Eastern State Hospital Lexington.

February 11, 2011 A look at the history of the Hastings Regional Center

It was built as the Hospital for the Un-curably Insane. Now it is better known as the Hastings Regional Center. The facility has been part of the community's rich history for more than a century. And as lawmakers decide whether it will remain open, News Five's Anthony Pura takes us back in time to see it's storied past and uncertain future. Images frozen in time. Memories pulled from archives. Stories told from recollection. "It used to be a fully self sustaining place," said Laverne Schreiner.

February 10, 2011 'They died at the hospital and no one ever claimed their remains'

The medical records room on the Oregon State Hospital campus looks exactly as it sounds: like a records room. Tucked away on the on the hospital campus in Salem, the small room holds the ashes of 3,500 cremated patients. "These were people who lived at the Oregon State Hospital and other institutions between 1914 and the 1970s," said Gipson-King. "They died here at the hospital and no one ever came to claim their remains."

February 6, 2011 Discovery of graves at Eastern State Hospital fuels family mystery

Lois and Cindy Shelton, a mother and daughter in Lexington, are trying to solve a family mystery that is buried along with the thousands of patients who were interred on the Eastern State Hospital Lexington grounds for more than 100 years.

February 3, 2011 Eastern State Hospital demolition

The main building at the old Eastern State Hospital Lexington was being torn down at the corner of Newtown Pike and West Fourth Street in Lexington, Ky., Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. A new Bluegrass Community and Technical College will be built at this location and a new Eastern State Hospital will be built on the property at the Coldstream Research Park. The demolition of this building started on Monday and is being done by Solid Rock Construction from West Portsmouth, OH.

January 20, 2011 Remains of 20 to 30 people found on Eastern State grounds

The remains of 20 to 30 people thought to be Eastern State Hospital Lexington residents in the 1800s have been found on the hospital grounds where the new Bluegrass Community and Technical College will be built, officials said Wednesday. Similar remains in unmarked graves were found on the state mental hospital's grounds in 2005.

January 16, 2011 State to sell old mental hospital

For sale: a former mental hospital just listed as a historic site, a juvenile jail and a handful of office buildings and other state properties that are vacant or soon will be vacated. At 225 acres, one of the largest properties on the list is a former state mental hospital in Sedro-Woolley. It's now partly occupied by a few nonprofits and government agencies. Called Northern State Hospital, the psychiatric hospital was built in 1909 and operated until 1973.

January 11, 2011 Medfield State Hospital contaminant picture to become clearer after meeting

The state will present a report on the sources, types, and extent of the contamination at site of the former Medfield State Hospital Thursday night. The town and state expects to turn the area into residential housing, but must overcome a number of environmental hurdles first.