Utah State Training School
| Utah State Training School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Opened | 1931 |
| Current Status | Active |
| Building Style | Cottage Plan |
| Location | American Fork, UT |
| Alternate Names |
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History[edit]
A gravel road off a two-lane stretch that wound through American Fork provided the single access to the Utah State Training School when it opened in October 5, 1931. Gravel pits and solid stretches of undeveloped land bordered the 486-acre parcel. Within a week the first 180 students were admitted to the school. There was a large farm where produce and livestock were raised for the use of the Training School. A separate building for a school was added in 1938 under the federal Works Project Administration (WPA) building program; up until that time all teaching had been held in storerooms, the service building or “corners of the present dormitories.”
Nearly two hundred Training School residents had been sterilized, although many more had been approved for the procedure. Without a hospital on the grounds, residents were released pending sterilization at a later date or bided their time at USTS awaiting admission to Salt Lake County Hospital.
In 1941, a centralized Public Welfare Commission replaced the autonomous USTS Board of Trustees. Ramsay now reported to public officials at offices miles away in Salt Lake City. Ramsay believed that he was losing control of the institution and the institution was becoming less effective in studying and training the feeble-minded. For the school, this change of accountability as well as other conditions was a prelude to the dismal decades ahead. By the mid- 1940s, USTS was overcrowded and grossly under-funded, similar to other institutions nationally. The number of students outnumbered the beds (730 children for 630 beds, according to the 1940 biennial report) and the severity of disability continued. In 1942 two buildings were added for the most helpless bedridden patients. Beds were frequently lined up in parallel rows in the dormitory warehouses of large floor space and high ceilings. Food was served from a central kitchen and pulled on large carts to the dormitories. In 1946, twenty-seven children died, all of them younger than age three, due to increasingly poor care and conditions.
By the late 1940s, nearly one-third of the total USTS population was under ten years of age. The number of children with epilepsy admitted was approaching nearly one-sixth of the USTS population.
Many changes have occurred over the years. The yearly average population of individuals residing at the Developmental Center has decreased on a yearly basis since 1975. Most of the outplacement occurred during the 1980s and 1990s, with the average population dropping from up to 800 individuals in 1980 to about 250 in 1999. Approximately 185 individuals currently reside at the Utah State Developmental Center (2020).
Much of the land the "Training School" was established on has been sold or retained by the State. Older buildings have been demolished, or are no longer in use. During the past 15 years, most of the existing residential buildings have been remodeled from congregate living environments into smaller apartment style residences. There are currently four twin homes close to completion for individuals that have expressed a desire to live in that type of setting. This will also facilitate the closure of the Pleasant View building, the last of the large congregate buildings. The Developmental Center currently spreads out over approximately 250 grass and tree covered acres.
