Harlem Valley State Hospital, south of the hamlet of Wingdale in the town of

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

, was a

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

that operated from 1924 to 1994.

History

The grounds were originally slated to be a correctional facility, Wingdale Prison, but complaints by the local population caused a re-purposing of the buildings (under construction) into a

state hospital The State Hospital (also known as Carstairs Hospital, or simply Carstairs) is a psychiatric hospital near the village of Carstairs Junction, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It provides care and treatment in conditions of high security for aro ...

. It is located on NY 22/ 55 opposite the Harlem Valley–Wingdale station on the

Metro-North Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority_of_the__is_a_type_of_Nonprofit_organization">nonprofit_corporation_char ...

Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Sou ...

. The hospital was closed in 1994 due to budget cuts and was sold to a Long Island-based housing developer, the Benjamin Companies. However, the Benjamin Companies gave up on its plans to pursue the Dover Knolls project - comprising development of a golf-course housing community surrounded by commercial, office, and retail development - when the

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hit and just before the housing market collapsed.

Current ownership

In August 2013, Olivet Management LLC, a newly formed real estate development and management company, bought from the Long Island developer the Benjamin Companies 503 acres on the east side(approximately half the property) for $20 million, to be used as an upstate campus for

Olivet University Olivet University is a private Christian institution of biblical higher education located in Anza, California. It is accredited by the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) to award Certificates, Bachelor's, Master's, D. Min. and P ...

. Opinions on Olivet's purchase of the property were mixed: on one hand, ''

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'' reported in 2014, "Wingdale residents are actually excited about the arrival of Olivet," expectant that "the college will draw new jobs and commerce to the town." On the other, David Allee, a photographer and former urban planner who captured pictures of the "massive campus with dozens of decayed buildings" before Olivet University refurbished the property, thought Olivet's plan to use the existing structures was a bad idea. He observed: "It's become a hazardous waste site. The buildings were so full of asbestos and mold that I'm shocked anybody thinks they could rehab them." In fact, in response to a complaint levied on October 23, 2013, OSHA fined Olivet Management $2.3 million for knowingly exposing workers to asbestos and lead during the renovation of the property and ultimately placed Olivet in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program. Additionally, multiple news outlets have cited several controversies about the school and its founder, David Jang. On October 27, 2015, Olivet University obtained from the

New York State Education Department The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the supervision for all public schools in New York and all standardized testing, as well as the production and administration ...

the right to open and operate an academic institution in Dover and in 2016 began offering courses at the new campus, dubbed "Olivet Center". The Metro-North station adjacent to the campus, formerly called "Harlem Valley-State Hospital", has been renamed " Harlem Valley-Wingdale".

References

External links

Asylum Projects info
- A comprehensive history and photo gallery {{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1924 Buildings and structures in Dutchess County, New York Psychiatric hospitals in New York (state)