Tuesday, March 31, 2015
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Youth Detention Center #2 was constructed in the early 1900's. At its peak, 150 juveniles were housed here. The facility produced much of its own food, having some fields set aside for corn and vegetables and others for cows and pigs. The inmates themselves were involved in some of the farming operations here. In more recent years, the numbers of residents were significantly reduced due to less juveniles in the systems as well as alternative social service programs. After 100 years of operation, the Detention Center closed for good in 2008.
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Monday, March 2, 2015
Portions of Fulton State Hospital date back to the mid 1800's. Unfortunately the original "Kirkbride" Asylum building caught fire and was demolished in the 1950's.. but the tunnel system still remains underground.
Today, a few older buildings remain on the campus and are obviously in a state of disrepair. On this trip, we entered two of them. These two buildings were constructed in the early 1900's and were in use up until the late 1990's. Building #1 appears to have been an activities building as it features several floor plans of spacious open rooms with large windows in addition to some resident housing and day rooms. On the lower level there is one prison cell type room likely used for disruptive patients. Building #2, constructed in 1910 appears to have been primarily used as housing as evidenced by rows of tiny rooms sandwiched together on both levels.
UPDATE: These Fulton State Hospital buildings have since been demolished.
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Building #1
Building #2
