Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, formerly known as Pilgrim State Hospital, is a state-run
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, dissociative ...
located in
Brentwood, New York
Brentwood is a hamlet in the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 62,387 at the 2020 Census, making it the most populous in Suffolk County and on all of Long Island outside of New York ...
. Nine months after its official opening in 1931,the hospital's patient population was 2,018, as compared with more than 5,000 at the Georgia State Sanitarium in Milledgeville, Ga. At its peak in 1954, Pilgrim State Hospital could claim to be the largest mental hospital in the U.S., with 13,875 patients. Its size has never been exceeded by any other facility, though it is now far smaller than it once was.
History
![New York - Brentwood - NARA - 68145407](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/New_York_-_Brentwood_-_NARA_-_68145407.jpg)
By 1900 overcrowding in New York City's psychiatric asylums had become a serious problem. There were several strategies implemented to deal with the escalating patient overload. One was to put the patients to work, farming in a relaxed setting on what was then rural
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
. The new state hospitals were dubbed "farm colonies" because of their live-and-work treatment programs and emphasis on agriculture. However, these farm colonies, Kings Park State Hospital, (later named
Kings Park Psychiatric Center
The Kings Park Psychiatric Center, known by Kings Park locals as "The Psych Center", is a former state-run psychiatric hospital located in Kings Park, New York. It operated from 1885 until 1996, when the State of New York closed the facility, ...
) and Central Islip State Hospital (later named
Central Islip Psychiatric Center
The Central Islip Psychiatric Center, formerly State Hospital for the Insane, was a state psychiatric hospital in Central Islip, New York, United States from 1889 until 1996.
The center was one of the four major hospital "farms" in central Long ...
), became overcrowded, like the institutions they were meant to replace.
New York State began making plans for a third farm colony, which was to become Pilgrim State Hospital, named in honor of the former
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
State Commissioner of Mental Health, Charles W. Pilgrim. The state bought approximately of land in Brentwood and began construction on the hospital in 1929. Pilgrim State Hospital opened on October 1, 1931, as a close-knit community with its own police and fire department, courts, post office, a
LIRR
The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...
station, power plant, swine farm, church, cemetery and water tower, as well as houses for staff and administrators. A series of
tunnels
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A Pipeline transport, pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used ...
were used for routing utilities. Each set of buildings were known as quads, a pattern of four buildings situated around a center building, where the kitchen was located.
The hospital continued to grow as the patient population increased greatly. Eventually, the state of New York bought up more land to the southwest of the facility to construct
Edgewood State Hospital
Edgewood State Hospital was a tubercular/psychiatric hospital complex that formerly stood in Deer Park, New York, on Long Island. It was one of four state mental asylums built on Long Island (the others being Kings Park State Hospital, Central I ...
, a short-lived facility that was a subsidiary of Pilgrim State Hospital. In fact, Pilgrim State Hospital was so large that it reached into four Suffolk towns: Huntington, Babylon, Smithtown and Islip, and had two state roads passing through its grounds.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the
War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* D ...
took control of Edgewood State Hospital, along with three new buildings at Pilgrim State Hospital, buildings 81 to 83. The War Department constructed numerous temporary structures and renamed Edgewood State Hospital and buildings 81 to 83 "
Mason General Hospital
Edgewood State Hospital was a tubercular/psychiatric hospital complex that formerly stood in Deer Park, New York, on Long Island. It was one of four state mental asylums built on Long Island (the others being Kings Park State Hospital, Central Is ...
," a psychiatric hospital devoted to treating battle-traumatized soldiers. Renowned filmmaker
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...
, who received a special commission in the
U.S. Army Signal Corps
)
, colors = Orange and white
, colors_label = Corps colors
, march =
, mascot =
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
...
during World War II, made a
documentary at Mason General Hospital called "
Let There Be Light
"Let there be light" is an English translation of the Hebrew (''yehi 'or'') found in Genesis 1:3 of the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible. In Old Testament translations of the phrase, translations include the Greek phrase (''genēth ...
", which showed the effects of war on mental health. The film was highly controversial and was not seen by the public until 1981.
After World War II, Pilgrim State Hospital experienced an increase in patient population that made it the world's largest hospital, with 13,875 patients and over 4,000 employees (for every 100 patients there was 1 doctor there were around 50 doctors working there). In the 1950s more aggressive treatments, such as
lobotomy
A lobotomy, or leucotomy, is a form of neurosurgical treatment for psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy) that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. The surgery causes most of the connections t ...
and
electro-convulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure (without muscular convulsions) is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders.Rudorfer, MV, Henry, ME, Sackeim, HA (2003)"Electroconvulsive th ...
(ECT) were implemented. The best known controversy about this surrounded the case of
Beulah Jones
Beulah is a term from the Biblical Hebrew to refer to the Lord's country, Beulah (land). It may also refer to:
People
* Beulah (given name), derivation of the name and list of people with this name
*Beulah (singer), UK-based female singer-song ...
, a patient there between 1952 and 1972 who received both such treatments and was left seriously impaired. However, Pilgrim State Hospital and the other state hospitals began to decline shortly afterwards with the advent of pharmaceutical alternatives to institutionalization. The number of patients dropped greatly.
Henry Brill
Henry Brill (October 6, 1906 – June 17, 1990) was an American psychiatrist and educator. A native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, he earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees from Yale University. After receiving his M.D. in 1932, he bega ...
was the director of Pilgrim from 1958 to 1974 and presided over both the introduction of the new anti-psychotic medications and the large numbers of discharges related to good response to these medications.
Death of the "Farm Colonies"
As psychiatric medication and community care became an increasingly viable alternative to institutionalization, large mental institutions began to decline. Edgewood, the last psychiatric hospital to be built on Long Island, closed its doors in December, 1971, following decentralization. Kings Park and Central Islip remained open, while slowly downsizing. During this time Pilgrim was not exempt from downsizing either, with parts of the campus closing throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Buildings 81–83 were briefly used as a correctional facility in the 1980s, but after community protest they were renovated and reverted to psychiatric use. In the early 1990s, with declining patient populations in the three remaining hospitals, the New York State Office of Mental Health (formerly the Department of Mental Hygiene) began making plans to re-organize the Long Island hospitals, which were implemented in the fall of 1996, when Kings Park and Central Islip were closed, and the remaining patients from those facilities were transferred to Pilgrim or released into community care. Parts of Central Islip Psychiatric Center became a campus for the
New York Institute of Technology
The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a private research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long Island, and one in Manhattan. Additionally, it has a cybersecu ...
, as well as a residential and commercial development. At Kings Park, two buildings housing community residences administered by Pilgrim remain open. A portion of former parts of the Pilgrim campus has become the
Brentwood State Park
Brentwood State Park is a state park and athletic field complex located in the hamlet of Brentwood in Suffolk County, New York, United States.
History
Brentwood State Park occupies land that was once part of the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center
...
athletic field complex,
while the rest sits unused.
In 1972 half of the pilgrim property became the
Suffolk Community College Grant campus that opened in 1974 and most of the old medical buildings and houses became halls and security offices for the college. A former hospital building became Camusett Hall in 1972 and by opening day, half of
Suffolk Community College was finished. The former post office and vegetable garden property became
Paumanok
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...
Hall in 1995 and old barns and other buildings became more education centers and classrooms by 1999.
Sagtikos Parkway
The Sagtikos State Parkway (also known as the Sagtikos or Sagtikos Parkway; known colloquially as "the Sag") is a north–south limited-access parkway in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York, in the United States. It begins at an interchan ...
science hall was built in 1980 whereas Captree commons opened in 1984. Nesconset Hall was finished in 1991 and was built 1989. By 2003, most of Pilgrim Psychiatric Center was demolished and gone. Today the old barns are
custodian
Custodian may refer to:
Occupations
* Janitor, a person who cleans and maintains buildings
* Goalkeeper, in association football
* Fullback, in rugby, also called a sweeper
* Legal guardian or conservator, who may be called a custodian in some ...
offices or maintenance plants.
Today
Today, the much smaller Pilgrim Psychiatric Center still stands. The original farm was sold, rebuilt, and developed to become the
Suffolk County Community College Grant Campus (formerly west campus) in 1974.
Gerald Wolkoff bought of the remaining property for $21 million in 2002 and announced a plan to build a $4 billion residential/office complex, called Heartland Town Center, on the site which borders his Heartland Business Park, which is to the west of the complex. In preparation, several former hospital buildings were demolished in 2003, however, rebuilding has not yet begun. In 2011, the former housing facilities for the hospital staff were demolished in further preparation of redevelopment. Demolition of the old medical/surgical building, male and female admissions buildings and the old administration building was completed in 2012.
On July 1, 2009, Dr. Anand D. Nadkarni retired after 27 years of state service. Nadkarni had worked as an attending psychiatrist from 1987 to 1994, when he moved to take on supervisory positions. He eventually became the Chief of Psychiatry. During his tenure at Pilgrim, Nadkarni also had his own private practice and worked for the Town of Islip. He currently serves as the medical director for ACCESS/ACCESSO, an alcohol and drug counseling center in Islip.
Another proposed project for the site is the Pilgrim Intermodal Freight Transportation Center, which would be a facility for
transloading freight from trains to trucks. It would be built on a tract owned by the state and use a rail siding of the
Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
that previously carried freight and visitors to the hospital.
Long Island Psychiatric Museum
Pilgrim Psychiatric Center hosts the Long Island Psychiatric Museum, which displays items from Kings Park, Central Islip, Pilgrim, and Edgewood, such as photos, newsletters, relics from abandoned and demolished buildings, and other historical information. It is located in Building 45 and is open to the public. On November 5, 2020, building 45 flooded and destroyed most of the museum. It is currently being restored.
Miscellaneous
In 1985 the film ''Murder: By Reason of Insanity'', starring
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of the title character on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also know ...
, was filmed on the grounds of Pilgrim State Hospital, in Building 14. The film was based on Adam Berwid, who had murdered his wife on a day pass from the hospital. Staff working at the facility were able to audition for small roles. The case was also the subject of a 1980 segment of
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
's ''
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
''.
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
's mother, Naomi Livergant Ginsberg, who suffered with schizophrenia throughout most of her life, died at Pilgrim State Hospital in 1956. "Pilgrim State" is mentioned in Ginsberg's poem "Howl."
Pilgrim State Hospital is mentioned in the 2009 documentary ''
Cropsey'', as having reportedly housed the mother of convicted child kidnapper Andre Rand.
[2009 documentary Cropsey] One of Rand's supposed victims, Jennifer Schweiger, was found buried in a shallow grave behind the grounds of the abandoned
Willowbrook State School
Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities located in the Willowbrook neighborhood on Staten Island in New York City from 1947 until 1987.
The school was designed for 4,000, but by 1965 ...
which was built under the same design as Pilgrim State Hospital.
Easter Sunday Chair Assault, aide used a chair to beat Barry Waszcyszak a one-armed disabled patient. Patient found with cuts on his head and bruises to his body. Aide arrested and charged with second-degree assault. “Aide Is Charged in Patient Assault .” Poughkeepsie Journal, 10 Apr. 1980, p. 20.
Currently, Pilgrim Psychiatric Center is protected by members of the
New York State Office of Mental Health Police. OMH Police officers have New York State Peace Officer status which is granted under the Mental Hygiene Law (section 7.25), Public Health Law (section 455), and Criminal Procedure Law (section 2.10 subsection 12) which allows officers to issue summonses and effect arrests. Some of the duties performed by officers include, but are not limited to, enforcing state and local laws including vehicle and traffic laws, apprehending absconded patients, filling out motor vehicle accident reports and performing motor vehicle accident investigations. Officers also are responsible for conducting fire service procedures which include conducting fire drills, fire extinguisher inspections, and building inspections.
References
11. Press and Sun-Bulletin BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK Thursday, April 10, 1980, Aide charged
12. Poughkeepsie Journal POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK, Thursday, April 10, 1980
External links
Pilgrim Psychiatric Center Official WebsiteUrbex Tour of the existing structuresPilgrim State Asylum Photo Journal
{{authority control
1931 establishments in New York (state)
Hospital buildings completed in 1931
Islip (town), New York
Psychiatric hospitals in New York (state)
Unused buildings in New York (state)
Buildings and structures in Suffolk County, New York
New York State Department of Mental Hygiene