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Just learned about Hart Island from son, and it is now on the news with the Covid-19. I never knew the island existed. It is a very sad story.
Thank you for documenting this for readers.

My Father, Dr. William F. McLaughlin was the Superintendent until 1978. That photo was the front door to our supplied home. That balcony was outside my bedroom window. That was a 2 room three story home filled with treasures and artwork from the wealthy family who donated a portion of the land to the State as their daughter was mentally ill and they realized the need for social care. Any other photos of that building would be greatly appreciated if available for sale? bmclaug264@comccast.net

Message to you all out there. STAY SAFE. With this stupid corona virus

Mighty mouse. Who are you. You know alot about this ordeal we all went through

I was on duty that day (fire department ) when the maintenance man was greasing the wheel at the top and someone pushed the switch to turn on the ride and the man was pulled into the wheel and cable and died within seconds.

Pretty sure that’s actually a giant walk-in soap dispenser.

Greetings. You’ve been gifted TV from the sky.

Why people in the 80s thought that we should festoon our walls with such colors....

Also, again with the interesting lighting

Relax, Float around, and contemplate the very different lighting design and fixture choices that someone decided to implement before asking yourself, “But...why? Why did they do this?”

Is that a stage to the far left? Odd, I don’t see any proper rigging points for cabinets or ellipsoidals. I hope the round plates in the saucer aren’t the only speakers for the house! As an audio technician that makes no sense to me, even for that time. You would at least have an incan or two hanging somewhere.

Wow. I don’t really know what to say. I must say all the parallels between this situation and the showers in your typical public school were very thought invoking. There really isn’t that much of a difference and yet the situation at Worcester just feels so wrong. Worcester is really something else when it comes to institutions and I now have a very strong urge to start researching the place like a mad man (Excuse to buy more books. Yay!). The whole hospital is just so different from all the other Kirkbride models. Not only in its features but even in things not normally noticed like the type of materials used to construct the building. It’s so unique but it sure does feel much darker than most of America’s other institutions.

You guys I’ve an incredible community here, I have never learned so much from so little, simply a handful of comments. Makes me wonder why I paid for college to learn not much of anything.

Thank you Mott for all you do. History is the greatest teacher of all for those who chose to listen. Ever think that a decade and a half later, this place and this particular picture would still be inciting people’s fascination and inspiring further research?

What a gorgeous ceiling. It looks so unaffected by time and the elements compared to everything else.

I am from Canada and now live in the US. I was near this place the last time I visited there. How very cool to see the inside!

That's one of the quiet rooms when you first walk in ward E there's a few on each side of the locked hallway door. When you first arrive there they strip search you then make you lay there naked with an itchy whool blanket

That's one of the quiet rooms when you first walk in ward E there's a few on each side of the locked hallway door. When you first arrive there they strip search you then make you lay there naked with an itchy whool blanket