688 Comments for Western Center

You should make this one a wallpaper..

if you guys didn't notice, the area the crib is in is indented in the exact size of the crib's head board. it was probably designed so if the baby was slamming around in the crib, it wouldn't knock the entire crib over and hurt itself. if a baby is having a seizure, the last place you want it is on a cold, hard, tile floor.

Wow truely heart breaking- makes me want cuddle my infant that no place for a tiny new life, oh so sad-good work Motts !!!

These sort of chairs are still used in mental institutes.. they're large and heavy and nearly impossible to pick up and throw

I had a few relatives that worked here immediately prior to it's shut down. The place seemed to invoke a feeling of dread long before the abandonment of all the buildings, and it carried the strong feeling of an unknown past in every room, around every corner.

"Rubber duckie, you're the one, you make bathtime lots of fun...." oh sorry, didn't realize you all were in here too.

Residents who were sent to Western Center were sent there because there was no other place to take them. They were not able to be rehabilitated. This was the last stop. If I'm not mistaken, the residents were sterilized after being admitted to prevent pregnancy. Most of these people would not have been likely to carry a viable baby to full term due to their medical conditions anyway.

Yes, that is Southpointe in the background, most likely part of the office complex. As far as the rolling country---welcome to western Pennsylvania.

I think this was one of the rooms where families would visit with the residents. When you went there, you signed in and a worker would go get the person you were visiting and wheel them out for your visit. Unless the resident had specific restrictions, you could wheel them outside around on the grounds while you visited with them.

Welcome to the office of Sweeney Todd!

I think Claudia is right about this one. From the mid 1960's until it closed in 2000, this was an institution primarily for people with severe mental retardation. My aunt was a resident at Western Center for several years until she passed away there from complications due to her condition in 1984. I remember visiting her with my family in the summers when I was a little kid. It was so sad to see all those people there in the condition they were in. But my aunt was always cheered up when my Grandma would visit. Despite having the mental abilities of a 1-1/2 year old, a vocabulary of 2 words, and being legally blind she was always happy to see her mom. One of the two words she ever knew all her life was "Mum". I think that speaks volumes about the strength of the bond between a mother and her children.

But this wash tub I think is elevated so a gurney can be wheeled right up beside it and the patient easily placed into it for bathing. I don't think this was the kind of hospital that perfomed operations, autopsies, and that sort of thing. It was more of a residential institution for the severly mentally handicapped.

Had to be made by one instrument. Looks like it was done with permanent markers rather than scratched in like with a fork. Like one of those instruments that would hold several pieces of chalk or several markers at one time used to draw lines on a chalkboard/marker board to write musical notes. Notice how the line on the outer curve of the letter "P" is wider than the others, as if the vandal put a little more pressure on that side of the marker instrument as they formed the curve of the letter "P".

:o

oh my. next sink and no soap dispenser again!

Waterslide anyone???