Comments

This may have been a kitchen area? The odd-shaped bins might have been for storing flour or coffee or whatnot at one time, and it looks as though there are hookup pipes for a gas stove on the rear wall.

I agree, Eileen. It kind of breaks my heart to see it in this state of disrepair. The District (and/or PG County?) would like to sell the whole thing, and there's a caveat that the main building, I think, must be kept intact. But gosh, that asbestos repair would cost somebody a fortune.

I was never scared walking through any of the doors, day or night, but back then of course the place was well cared for and bustling with people. The grounds were gorgeous too...lots of trees and azaleas.

They used to show movies for the patients in a big day room.

It really was a lovely old building, even in the 70s. The tons of windows were for sun and fresh air, and the patients got regular outside time on nice days.

By the way, one of the reasons it was torn down (besides the asbestos, of course) had to do with Marion Barry's plan to build some kind of a luxury resort on the site for government staff and visitors. Never happened (as was the case with a number of Mayor Barry's grand schemes). The remaining patients were transferred to DC village, which was far more blighted than Glenn Dale had ever been. The move must have been traumatic for most of the patients, and the care at DCV was never, ever as good as it was at Glenn Dale. It makes me sad to think what some of the patients I'd gotten to know must have suffered at DCV, which had a reputation for being a TRUE house of horrors.

Lexi, they did not burn the bodies. The smell would have upset the patients AND the staff, and during the TB years, it would have been too dangerous. When patients died, their bodies were either turned over to their families or buried in one or another public (pauper's) graveyard offsite.

The sad fact is, a lot of very sick children lived at Glenn Dale, certainly during the TB years, but also during the later years when it served people with the most severe physical handicaps I've ever seen. There are numerous reasons why a quadriplegic child with hydrocephaly, for example, might not reach adulthood.

And to whomever suggested that the peeling paint, which is just a result of age and the elements, indicates claw marks, you're letting your imagination run away with you. When I was visiting Glenn Dale, the nurses and aides caring for those children were some of the most caring people in the world. It takes a special kind of person to work with disabled children day in and day out, and while the place always looked old to me (in the 60's and 70's), the staff did try to make it as cheerful as possible for the kids.

I was in the Kettle building Adolescent unit. Some of the staff were awesome people who really wanted to help. Some not so much. The policies and known treatments were sometimes things we wouldn't do to prisoners of war in today's standards.

Glenn Dale was never, ever a mental hospital. When tuberculosis treatment advanced, and TB patients no longer needed isolation, Glenn Dale expanded its services and began taking in people with severe physical disabilities. I remember a lot of paraplegics in wheelchairs and quadriplegics on gurneys. Some of the elderly patients had dementia, and even some of the younger ones were understandably depressed...particularly those whose families never, ever came to visit them. (That was a common situation, even for some of the kids in the children's ward.) But no, there was no shock treatment going on. Patients diagnosed as needing that level of psychiatric intervention would have been placed in a different facility altogether; Glenn Dale was simply not staffed or equipped for administering ECT.

I spent my share of time in those tunnels. They have some with caged off rooms used at 1 time for electro shock therapy as they called it. I call it torcher.

The Kettle building was my home for a long period of time. I found nothing fun about it. The things they did in the name of health care still haunt me today.

I was a patient there in the early 70's. Not fond memories still suffer from PTSD. I walked thru many of the tunnels. It's how they got me to the different buildings movie theaters and roller skating rings.

The classic Lonely Chair!

I'm surprised someone hasn't tossed a lighted match in there

How deep do you suppose they had to pour the concrete to support that structure? I would think they would have to be pretty deep.

looks like a neat fort

I've never ridden a wooden coaster but I'll tell you after seeing these photos, I doubt I ever will. They do say it's a very unique experience.