pennhurst state school and hospital

Philadelphia Hall

Pennhurst State School and Hospital
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Formerly known as the "Eastern State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic"

Opened: November 23, 1908
Closed: December 9, 1987

Chester County
​​Pennsylvania​

Devon Hall

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The hospital received its first patient in 1908 and within five short years overcrowding became an issue as the pressure to admit criminals, orphans and immigrants rose tremendously. Most institutions faced the problem of overcrowding at least a decade into their operation but Pennhurst grew rapidly. 

The hospital was meant to treat those with mental and physical disabilities but in the end it became a human warehouse for anyone with epilepsy, mental illness, physical and developmental disabilities and a diagnosis of criminal insanity. Patients ranged from infancy to seventy years old even though they were referred to as "children" as most state school and hospital patients usually were. 

Two old cars left behind in the center courtyard

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Overgrown swingset in the center yard

At the time, the medical terms used for classification were based on IQ level and labeled "moron" for the 59-69 IQ group, "imbecile" for 20-49 and "idiot" for anyone whose IQ fell below 20. These categories were later replaced with mild, moderate, severe, and profound mental retardation.

The daily tasks for staff included changing diapers, giving baths and showers, assisting patients who couldn't walk on their own, create education programs, and provide individual physical assistance to those who needed it. With the long hours, low pay, and demanding tasks, not many skilled doctors, nurses and staff wanted to work at Pennhurst which lead to the hiring of unskilled and poorly trained staff and an understaffed institution. In 1946 there were over 2,000 patients with only seven physicians and not much changed even when the hospital hit its peak patient population in 1955 with 3,500 patients. 

One of the two rusted slides on the Pennhurst campus

With the hospital's lack of funding, building maintenance was put on the back burner and the budget for each patient per day suffered significant cutbacks, basic patient needs could not be met. 
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In 1968, Bill Baldini of NBC did an expose reporting on the conditions inside Pennhurst called “Suffer The Little Children” which played a huge role in in getting the facility closed. Charges of physical and sexual abuse, improper restraint and seclusion, corruption, mismanagement, and neglect led to the closure of Pennhurst in 1986.

Assembly building across the street from Devon Hall

Walkway from the Dietary building

Deteriorating roof of the Mayflower building

lower campus

Administration
​Philadelphia
Quaker
Rockwell
Franklin
Nobel
Union
Vincennes
Tinicum
Industry
Penn
Devon
Mayflower
Limerick
Assembly
Storeroom
Laundry
Whitman
Wilson I
Wilson II
Hershey 

upper campus

Pershing
Buchanan
Audubon
Keystone
Capitol
Horizon 

other buildings

Power House,
Treatment Plant
Director's House
Green House
Dairy Farm

Mayflower hall taken from outside the Tinicum building

The mosaic artwork outside of the administration building

Art from the haunted house hosted on the Pennhurst campus in October

Mayflower building

What looked like a green chicken coop as actually housing pipes and machinery underneath

Inside of the assembly building

View from administration facing dietary, Nobel and Franklin

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Front of Devon Hall

Front of Administration Building

Jungle gym equipment left to rust in the center courtyard 

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The Residents

"The Residents" is a piece put together by the ​Pennhurstproject.com

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Gerald Wheaton
Pennhurst Resident 1948-1971

“Equal rights, that went out the window if you were in an institution. They didn’t care, to them, if it was fair or wrong. They figured they had a right to do whatever they wanted to you."
​                                            - Gerald Wheaton

Images taken from Pennhurstproject.com

When Gerald was only three years old, he and his sister were admitted to Pennhurst by court-order because of their parents marital issues which were cited simply as "fighting". For the next twenty-four years, Gerald worked at numerous unpaid institutional jobs. As of 2010, at age sixty-one, Gerald was living in his own apartment in Chester County and was an active member at his local church. 

Images taken from Pennhurstproject.com

Mike Koval

Pennhurst Resident 1942-1970

At only thirteen years old, Mike and his twin brother were sent to Pennhurst. Once their father remarried, their new stepmother did not want the boys living with her. As of 2010, Mike, at eighty years old was living an active life in his Phoenixville apartment. 

Rob Gorman 
       &
Bill Pennypacker

Both Rob and Bill came to Pennhurst as children with cerebral palsy and became fast friends during their time spent living together in Devon Hall. When interviewed for the project Rob reported no one talking to them during their time there and spending most of their time watching TV alone. At fifty-one years old it still upsets them to talk about their time spent there. In 1980 the two of them moved into a group home in Collegeville together. ​

Images taken from Pennhurstproject.com

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lost in a desert world 
roland johnson

Roland Johnson was a Pennhurst resident from 1958 to 1971. "Lost in a Desert World" is the autobiography of Roland Johnson as told to Karl Williams. At twelve years old, Roland was brought to Pennhurst and thought he would never see his family again. After his first two weeks, he was transferred to ward D-4 which was a high functioning, all male ward with about one hundred patients. Roland tells his heartbreaking story of verbal, physical and sexual abuse by the higher functioning male patients. Even though he was ashamed to tell his family, he eventually told his mom who reported the abuse to the supervisor. Unfortunately, the ongoing abuse and torment continued which led to Roland's outburst of anger and frustration resulting in a broken window and a place in the punishment ward. The autobiography sheds light on what it was really like to be a patient at Pennhurst. 

Before passing away in 1994, Roland was a leader of the self-advocacy movement and president of "Speaking For Ourselves" which is a civil rights organization run by individuals with developmental disabilities. His mission was to redefine society's meaning of disability through his work as a public speaker.

Image taken from KarlWilliams.com

Image taken from Pennhurstproject.com

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REFERENCES 

Kirsch, Tom. "Pennhurst State School." Opacity.us. N.p., n.d. Web.                               <http://opacity.us/site30_pennhurst_state_school.htm>.

"Pennhurst Asylum: The Shame of Pennsylvania." Weird NJ. N.p., 2013. Web. <http://weirdnj.com/stories/pennhurst-asylum/>.
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Reynolds, Cecil R., and Kimberly F. Applequist. "Halderman V. Pennhurst State School and Hospital (1977)." Encyclopedia of Special Education (2008): n. pag. Web.

"The Residents." Pennhurst Project. N.p., 2010. Web. <http://pennhurstproject.com/The_Residents.html>.

Velde, Matt Van der. Abandoned asylums. Versailles: Jonglez, 2016. Print.

"Welcome to the Pennhurst Memorial & Preservation Alliance." PMPA. N.p., 2015. Web. <http://www.preservepennhurst.com/>.