The land Byberry was built on was previously used as a farm by Holmesburg Prison, and like Holmesburg, Byberry also allowed extensive, and largely unregulated medical testing on patients, in its case by Philadelphia pharmaceutical company Smith, Kline & French. It stood about three feet high and a little over [citation needed] Another state inspection team was sent to evaluate the hospital in early 1987. One half of it consisted of the typical patient dormitories and day rooms, while the other half of the building was filled with lab equipment, a staff library, an auditorium, a large and efficient mortuary, the hospitals autopsy department, and a training center for staff. By the 1930's, Byberry had become severely overcrowded, and the buildings were in almost constant need of repair. Casey placed a gubernatorial order that the hospital should be closed immediately, with the scheduled date of September 30th 1989. I hope that the state has not injured this poor young man to the point where it is now irreparable, said his attorney, Stephen Gold. Finally, a comprehensive, detailed history of Byberry. In June 1990, Byberry Insane Asylum released its last two patients, closing its doors forever. In the early 1980s the C buildings became mostly vacant, and administration was moved to the W3 building. Despite the bucolic appearance depicted in this 1946 report by the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, conditions inside Byberry were both sad and terrifying. working class family. For the womens wards, staff shortages were even more severe. This phenomenon was the exacerbated by the widespread exposure, largely through internet websites, often describing the ruins of the former state facility being "haunted". Despite reports from Byberry circulating and sparking horror nationwide for decades, it remained in operation until almost 1990. family, and Thomas Dyer, neither of whom had a cemetery there. that gave rise to questions of negligence, patient abuse, and the deaths of several patients. Thousands spend their days often for weeks at a stretch locked in devices euphemistically called restraints: thick leather handcuffs, great canvas camisoles, muffs, mitts, wristlets, locks and straps and restraining sheets. Having been successfully hidden from public awareness, Byberry's truths The utilitarian and banal structure of the power-plant was the centerpiece of the campus and the first officially constructed building. Contained a lot of graffiti, fire damage and water damage The patient wards were empty, and all administrative/therapy buildings were trashed beyond recognition. At length, his body fell back on the bed. Philadelphia State Mental Hospital at Byberry originally ran on the principle that mental illness could be cured if the individual was treated in a hospital away from society. Novels and films like The Snake Pit and photographs in national magazines like Life and PM reached a broader public with the message that basic living conditions in the state hospitals were very poor. nation's best example of a free, world-leading society's inability to embrace it's own element of the unknown and undesirable. Official Blueprints and Floor Plans. Jennings had been abused as a child and was diagnosed with schizophrenia but she still had the wherewithal to document instances of abuse she saw and smuggle them to her mother. Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry (PSH) was a psychiatric hospital in northeast Philadelphia, first city and later state-operated. and non-professionals hand picked by the Thornburg administration. Because of this, residents were often left unbathed and naked. The patients eyes bulged, his tongue swelled, his breathing labored. Due to the understaffing, there was an extremely low ratio of orderlies to patients at the Byberry mental hospital. Create an account (855) 847-4002 M-F, 9 AM - 7 PM ET In his 1948 book, The Shame of the States, Albert Deutsch described the horrid conditions he observed: "As I passed through some of Byberry's wards, I was reminded of the pictures of the Nazi concentration camps. As far back as the 1940s, newspapers began publishing first-hand accounts from staffers, patients, aides, and more who had experienced the hospital of horrors. other job sites. N10s original purpose was no longer being needed, it became the medical/surgical building. During its years of operation, a whopping 59 deaths occurred within the institutions grounds. But when he reconsidered his decision, he couldnt find any staff to let him back inside. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2009. 49, was brought to Byberry in August of 1942 to fill in. Plans for the east campus (male group) consisted of six dormitory buildings, an infirmary, a laundry building, an administrative building and a combination kitchen/dining hall and power-plant. Luckily, Jennings mother worked in state mental health oversight, and soon a committee was investigating Byberry that uncovered abuse and a culture of covering up that abuse. The attendant pulled the ends together, and began to twist. were informed that the hospital was to be closed permanently by December 7, 1989. Consequently, a hoard of "ghost-hunters" and assorted types descended on the site for the sake of this asinine quest. Byberry was Philadelphias Bedlam, the equal of the notorious London home for the mad in the previous century or in Deutschs words akin to Nazi concentration camps. New York: Anchor Books, 1961. Prosthetic leg house on Zion Mountain (Hillsborough) 18: 23p. Particularly, the administration of Philadelphia Mayor Samuel Ashbridge, who politically benefited from hiding the rising social iniquity in the city, by removing the neglected poor and insane out of the public's peripheral vision. township for the burial of "colored's". The hospital was formed to help relieve some of the burdens of overpopulation from other facilities in the area. Patients sit in a common area at the Byberry mental hospital. Prayer stone and ruins along the Black River (Chester) 29: 67p. By the 1950s though, its original purpose was almost forgotten and the building was converted into a regular patient dormitory to keep up with the overcrowding that was common to that period. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. I entered a building swarming with naked humans herded like cattle and treated with less concern, pervaded by a fetid odor so heavy, so nauseating, that the stench seemed to have almost a physical existence of its own.". After this look at Byberry mental hospital, step inside some more of the most disturbing mental asylums of decades past. Following the partial completion of the east campus, construction for the west campus began in 1913. These individuals, most of which were men, CPS-49 worked as orderlies and ward attendants for the hospital's many buildings. Can Byberry get worse? from the State Archives in Harrisburg, Temple University Urban Archives, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia The hospital was in need of a separate unit to house adolescents, which would in time, became its south campus. Like its parallel on the east campus, the west campus was designated to the "incurable" females patients of Philadelphia. While many modern psychiatric hospitals arent malicious, institutions before the modern medical era were often destructive and traumatizing. The property sadly Philadelphia State Hospital (Byberry). Chicago: self-published, 1934. Finally, on June 21, 1990, after decades of controversy, the Byberry mental hospital closed its doors. During the mid-1980s, the hospital came under scrutiny when it was learned that violent criminals were being kept on the hospital's Forensic Ward (N8-2A). Lawsuits successfully challenged the image of an effective mental health facility and pressed the state for change. In 1938, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania intervened, and absorbed Byberry into the state hospital system. I was Born October 14th,1954 at Byberry State Hospital. The facility included over fifty buildings such as male and female dormitories, an infirmary, kitchens, laundry, administration, a chapel, and a morgue. Digital version also available. (From A Pictorial Report on Mental Institutions in Pennsylvania. industrial buildings) was the northeastern extremity of the first tract purchased by the city in 1903, the Keigler tract (see By the late 1980s, Byberry was regarded as a clinical and management nightmare, despite the fact that its census had fallen to about 500 by 1987. Allegedly, the hospital was so substantially insufficiently funded by the city's budget, that during the depression some patients were naked year round because there were simply no clothes or shoes for them to wear. It is only about a quarter-acre in size and is basically a small patch of Questionability Byberry Mental Hospital was one of the cruelest psychiatric institutes in history For over 80 years, the institute got away with abusing, restraining, neglecting, and killing its patients After its collapsed, the inhumane setting spurred nationwide debate about the inhumanity of mental institutions across the country From the arrival of its first patients in 1911 to 1990, when the Commonwealth formally closed it down, the Philadelphia State Hospital, popularly known as Byberry, was the home for thousands of mental patients. the site today. We noticed two others and began getting very curious. This page was last edited on 23 October 2022, at 05:47. Byberry Mental Hospital, Philadelphia's House of Horrors (allthatsinteresting.com) 38 points by mardiyah 14 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 17 comments: xrd 14 days ago | next. The facility officially opened on January 9, 1874. One conscientious objector working at the hospital reported that attendants were careful not to be seen when using weapons or fists upon patients, attacks which undoubtedly resulted in life-threatening injuries and death. City Archives, and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, as well some of my own photos and ephemera. The site itself sat on 874-acres, and consisted of fifteen small wooden farmhouses serving as temporary dormitories, or "colony houses", for the growing patient population. There was no superintendent of Byberry City Farms prior to 1913. there beginning in 1941. Due to the mass population of patients and the lack of trained staff (even those who had good intentions), the hospital was chaotic. It exceeded its patient limit quickly, maxing out at over 7,000 in 1960. In attendance were: Governor Edward Rendell, Mayor John Street, J. Westrum (CEO), and J. Sweeny, CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust, the developers of the new buildings to be built on site. The city responded by sealing the buildings up with plywood and changing security contractors. during the period of city control do not exist (if they ever existed at all). Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry was reportedly a horrific institution with many allegations of improper behavior over the years. These certainly werent the first signs that something very wrong was happening at Byberry. Publisher: The History Press. Since that time the complex has been fully refurbished, with most of the Edwardian frills of its original architecture removed. The name of the institution was changed several times during its history being variously named Philadelphia State Hospital, Byberry State Hospital, Byberry City Farms, and the Philadelphia Hospital for Mental Diseases. By the late 1990s the conditions at the former campus had shifted significantly, many of the buildings fell into terminal disrepair. According to Charles Zeller, Superintendent of Byberry, the ratio of attendant to patients was one attendant per shift for one hundred forty-four patients. The end result of my decade long obsession with PSH is this 176 page chronological story of one of America's most notorious mental hospitals. After the attendants arrived, usually one to four attendants worked with three hundred fifty patients in the violent building. Byberry Mental Hospital is located on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The violent ward at Byberry mental hospital. Many of whom sought financial refuge from the increasing tax hikes of the consolidated county of Philadelphia. In 1946, the new kitchen/dietary building, N-5, was opened for clinical use. street on February 17th, 1878. Property is being transformed into a 50+ community dubbed THE ARBOURS EAGLE POINTE, the hospital is gone. Username: Forgot Username? Governor Casey proposed $30 million dollars from the states budget in 1990. With the beginning of deinstitutionalization, Byberry began its downsizing process in 1962, releasing almost 2,000 patients to mental health centers, other hospitals and the streets between 1962 and 1972. When the unit grew to nearly one hundred thirty-five attendants, usually six to seven attendants worked during the early day shift in that ward, while five attendants staffed the 2 pm to 11 pm shift. ground", although the location isn't quite correct. in place, and the Machine's contractors, W. Mark and Co. naturally received both jobs. Other photographs of the era, including a 1946 report by the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, showed similar scenes. Several investigations into the conditions at the hospital at various points revealed that raw sewage lined the hallways, patients slept in the halls, and the staff mistreated and exploited patients. The east campus, which held the "incurable" males, was largely completed in 1912. Shortly after that, it was established in 1907 as the Byberry Mental Hospital and originally followed the theory of physician Benjamin Rush that mental illness was a disease and could be cured with proper treatment, but that the mentally diseased should be kept away from normal people until they were actually cured. The Keigler, Mulligan, Kessler, Jenks (a relative of Thomas Story Kirkbride), Grub, Tomlinson, Osmund, Carver, Alburger, Updyke, Comly, and Carter families all had no qualms about the sale of their property to the city. The foundation pits for the new buildings at byberry were the perfect place to dump tons of unwanted materials from Byberry was "A prison for the well, a hell Partial Walkthrough of tunnels (catacombs), buildings and grounds. A change in the 1950's that occurred due to state control was a re-designation of the building titles. It's not hard to imagine what happened The story is a wild ride, and I hope it helps to shed light on Philly's Payne, Christopher, with Oliver Sachs. But Byberry lived on in memory: Websites, rich with historical photographs and other documents, commemorated and even celebrated its notorious past. After a brief civil inquiry, Byberry City Farms was selected as the new site of the "Philadelphia Hospital for Mental Diseases" shortly after its founding. way a complete history, but hopefully it will satisfy the casually interested as well as the devoted historian. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, 1946. Republican Machine was in full swing and the newly elected mayor, Bernard Samuel, began his graft-filled term. Patients lived in squalor, struggling to get a quality meal, receive a bath, or have their clothing washed. in Philadelphia. Since the place was abandoned in the late eighties probably thousands of people wandered its darkened halls, some . Somehow, even after these reports came to light, these horrifying conditions continued to be overlooked. It seems to me there are four types of homeless people. Many patients were also forced to be guinea pigs in unstable drug trials that led to an excessive number of deaths. The Werner Wolff/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. The actual announcement of the closing of Byberry was made Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble stores and online. The most comprehensive, authoritative reference source ever created for the Philadelphia region. Housekeeping fell behind, bedding was unwashed, and floors were sticky with urine. The internet offered extremely exaggerated stories and legends, as well as tips on gaining access to the abandoned buildings while avoiding police and security. (Hint: Most of the time, they werent). Urban explorers wandered the halls and the extensive underground network that connected each building though tunnel corridors. From its beginning, Byberry provided shelter and custodial care, usually at the most minimal levels. Burial Ground", and no disturbance is to come of this area. The hospital was created as a mental health facility and admitted a variety of patients with various mental and physical disorders.
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