JUST A NOTE:: Please follow all rules & restictions of the Warren State Hospital, posted at entrances and along the streets.... Please respect patient/client privacy...No pictures without permission of security/WSH... Pictures used in Adventure Lab were approved by the state & Security of WSH... Adventure Lab is daylight hours, only... Thank-you..
This cache is a bonus for completing the Warren State Hospital Adventure Lab, coordinates will be revealed after last stage.. so read carefully and sometimes you may have to go back through your journal pages...
As I received Adventure Lab, I wanted to show some unique features around Warren State Hospital..not just usual sites most know about or will see driving around...but to include some interesting things I have found over the years.. starting when I did a clinical rotation here years ago (Yah, many years ago!!!)... Then a few weeks ago when grandson, Liam had soccer practice, I noticed a unique item when crossing sidewalk..
The Warren State Hospital construction was started in 1874 and completed in 1882... There were delays due to difficulty in finding able workers and craftment and procuring necessary funds (Brian Peterson). The stones for these buildings were quarried here in Warren, cut according to design, and hauled to this site by horse carts... Construction was unique in that it started at each end and worked toward the middle... to have patient wards ready first so hospital could begin functioning... The first patient was admitted in1880 and along with the patients, the staff resided on the grounds...
The Warren State Hospital is a complex of many buildings, that have been demolished and additions made throughout the years....In the past, this complex was a small town in its own right, having all the needed resources to maintain themselves... There was a 9-hole Minature Golf course fron 1931-1939, and, even had a Turish Bath in 1894, but was demolished in 1981.. A bowling alley...The staff and patients farmed, had greenhouse and gardens, kitchen and storeroom, cannery, barns & several kinds of animals, Blacksmith Shop, had milk production, laundry, clothing and sewing center, had own Fire Dept., own Powerhouse, and maintenace crews, had complete surgical suite and all medical depts., gymnasium, auditorium for theater, gaming rooms, Carpenter Shop, Tin Shop, Welding Shop, Paint Shop, and Toy Shop...
As I said, most the staff lived here along with the patients... Then in 1955, the new Secretary of Public Welfare, Mr. Shapir, mandated that all employees move off the grounds... stating "We are not in the hotel business" (Brian Peterson)..
This hospital's first name was "Hospital for the Insane of the Northwestern District" as part of 5 cities/towns that had state hospitals... then, when in the building phase, the name was changed to "State Hospital for the Insane at Warren".. then on April 13, 1927, per Public Law 206 the name was changed to the "Waren State Hospital", which remains today...
Good luck and thanks for checking out my Adventure Lab..
Reference: A Short History of the Physical Plant of Warren State Hospital by Brian Peterson
Thanks to Mary Beth Zdardo, Adm. Assist.Depart. of Human Services/Bureau of Community and Hospital Operations, Warren State Hospital..for help with obtaining permission for pictures for the Adventure lab, and the approval for the Adventure Lab and this cache..