Now we are left with a gorgeous stair with little or no real purpose–not that I’m complaining. we all came down with the whooping cough so my mother spent many sleepless nights caring for us. Portra 160. The laundry building, where many of the tunnels came to an end. Tear the place down, plant a bunch of trees and flowers and have the cemetery blessed. Destroy all remnants of our past folly so we can ‘pretend’ we are now a better, more humane society… Bullpucky! I n the late nineteenth-century, overcrowding at Minnesota's two Kirkbride asylums in Rochester and St. Peter led to the creation of a third in Fergus Falls. Records show Raknerud was born in Norway. Note: All content, photographs, stories and depictions at least 3 years old. My great aunt Mary E Kennel, was in Fergus Falls Hospital in the 1930-1942. Be Truthful. Without the reminder of location, of an evolving “civilized” past, later generations forget that it’s not a long way back to chaos and violence. Related Links . It is a very awe inspiring building. Random cinderblock (left) has created a little room behind the fireplace. My family member was told to “shut up” and ” go back to your hole” in my presence. I watch and wait, as do the memories lining the inside of every window in Fergus Falls State Hospital, where my great grandmother spent some years of her life while coping with depression. The Fergus Falls State Hospital is historically significant under National Register Criterion A in the area of Health and Medicine for its association with the state’s enduring commitment to provide humane treatment for its mentally ill citizens. I would like to know when or if commitment records are public. (2009, June 16). PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. A bleak double room in what used to be the Receiving Hospital, built apart from the Kirkbride to observe incoming patients before they were placed in a ward. High 43F. High School Sports View. Please help. Jun 17, 2020 - Explore AeroFennec's photos on Flickr. Maybe even overnights at the facility(you would need to check liability etc). Enter Fergus Falls. Its a part of history and so interesting to learn about and see. Unfortunally we as a communitee and city have no say in the matter, just the big guys with the money, and they will win, they always do. In some places, signs still point to defunct areas of the hospital. High School. They locked me up a year and a half ago and committed me for being chemically dependent. A circular common room in one of the original parts of the hospital. My email address is michelleraekreis@yahoo.es, if you would like to send me something & I can reply & send you the picture. There is no denying that the Fergus Falls asylum was a beautiful place, especially around sunset. Fergus Falls received international coverage in early 2017 and late 2018 after a news article in Der Spiegel falsely claimed there was an anti-Mexican sign at … Fergus Falls was the Third Hospital for the Insane, established by the Minnesota Legislature in 1887. The project was to document every inch of the abandoned Fergus Falls State Hospital, and after a little more than three hours over 50,000 images were taken methodically across the […], I think they should keep this building standing. I had my 20th birthday locked up at Fergus Falls. The … One soap holder hadn’t been stolen yet. var year = today.getFullYear() 2. It’s a great spot for picture taking and an important part of the town’s history. Please disable your ad blocker, whitelist our site, or purchase a subscription. […] que, paradójicamente, pudo salvar alguno de estos edificios de la demolición. [p.243]. Now it connects the first and second floor, then the third and fourth floors, with a strange cinder block and drywall barrier separating the new and old sections of the building. Fergus Falls is a big small town with many of the same features as a city several times its size. I am a long-admitted spiral staircase fetishist. August Voelker’s grave marker on Friday. Thank you, It has to be on the national registered places of historical sites in MN and in the USA. What was there shouldn’t be allowed to be erased. The first 100 patients arrived at the newly opened Anoka Asylum in March 1900. Low 37F. Connect the dots yourself. My name is Kathy. Thanks. Winds light and variable.. Mom thought my dad was a patient who Bob had invited out to the lake to go fishing!! [p.380]. When the work wound down, Fergus Falls State Hospital covered a giant campus with 22 wards, a psychopathic unit, a detention hospital, a contagious diseases hospital, dual tuberculosis clinics and even a special hospital for convalescents. Wow. A photographer’s secret. Only in recent years has there been a real effort to locate and identify the remains there. Original records for this hell hole were destroyed in the late 1980s by order if the state of Minnesota. FERGUS FALLS … FOR CRAFT BEER & CIDER. He was a businessman and worked in the steel industry. The nurse’s station on this floor, a ward still in its original design, featured a half-door where patients could get their medicine. All of the burials were patients at the Hospital. That was the summer of the great tornadoes that just about wiped out the town. She had seen him before working in the tunnels under the hospital on her way from the nurses cottage, and thought he was cute, but was dismayed thinking he was a patient. One apartment is designated for artists, and the general public rents the other units. It’s a kind of building that would not be erected today, especially by a state government, to say the least. I remember her telling me that her Update: as of October 2014, the future of the Kirkbride is again in question. Records show a … The first burial was done in August 1890 and the last one in September of 1968. I remember visiting him their with may family. We should not be forgotten. Thomas Kirkbride to allow patients a nore natural environment. Thank you. I say, take the place down. There are 103 real estate listings found in Fergus Falls, MN.View our Fergus Falls real estate area information to learn about the weather, local school districts, demographic data, and general information about Fergus Falls, MN. No matter how ornate the architecture, make no mistake about it, this was not a good place! A drunk husband could kill his wife with absolutely no legal repercussions. . From the tiny hexagonal tiles lining the dusty isolation rooms to the curtains hanging from the ward ceilings, to say nothing of the dark and stuffy tunnels below…. John Olson’s grave marker sits waiting to be used on Friday. Tras varias reconversiones, el centro quedó, en 2005, en manos de la […]. I hope this isnt torn down, we need to remember these people and times. As the story goes, my Mom, Tanya Reyerson (nee), was working as an art therapy student at the hospital when she met my dad. Email me at glassworksenator (at) email (dot) com if you have a digital copy. Note that even this building had a nurse’s station with shatterproof windows. Be Nice. In 2016 I learned that my maternal great grandmother, Virginie Vincent, (25S6, 1893-1908), had been admitted to the Fergus Falls asylum. However, Minnesota’s other two asylums (‘Minnesota Hospital for the Insane’ in St. Peter and Rochester’s ‘Asylum for Inebriates’) were bursting with overpopulation, and medicine of the day dictated that the best solution was to sentence individuals (often literally) to massive inpatient mental treatment facilities. The Phelps Mill in Underwood provides a historic stamp of the agricultural impact in the area. He was a prominent member of the Rotary Club. The windows are thick shatterproof plastic. A typical shower in the old section of the hospital. Anyway, I lost contact info and did not give mine to her. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=eRFQAAAAIAAJ, Fergus falls fire. Anyway it is just a thought to help preserve it and create a business and possible prosperity for the town. The Kirkbride Tower, a castle-like historic structure built in the 1880s, sits on top of a hill at the north end of Union Avenue. I find many young people have no idea that such strategies for living ever took place. The Fergus Falls State Hospital main administration building has been an iconic part of Fergus Falls for more than a century, here on March 2, 2018. And also preserve the building. Will the “Memorial” building remain? I think the place should be demolished and the cemetery should be blessed so the dead there can finally Rest In Peace!!! Cindy Swanson Detroit Lakes, MN. An old sign directed patients and visitors back to toward the central parts of the hospital. Admin, 2005. Wars of the mind, waged between walls of this asylum. She swore she wasn’t. He was a laborer, familiar with explosives, and had taken an insurance policy out on her. It is often referred to as the Kirkbride which is in reference to the overall design of the building, developed by Philadelphia psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride in the mid 1800s. Please email me at sourcehauntings13@gmail.com We want to hear from you. Construction began in 1888 and was finished with completion of the central administration structure in 1906. Compelling arrtical. I wonder how many rooms under there are totally sealed from the outside world…. Before I got sent to the locked unit at Fergus Falls I went to Wilmar treatment and also St Josephs hospital. Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. The floor of this first floor bathroom, Men’s Ward, was unlike any other I remember in the hospital. Hi, tried to email you but it got sent back. Northern Aire Lanes. The Phelps Mill in Underwood provides a historic stamp of the agricultural impact in the area. In 1885, the two existing state hospitals for the insane of Minnesota being overcrowded with patients, it became necessary to take steps for the erection of a third institution. My Grand Father, Grand Mother and their children lived in Fergus Falls until the summer of 1919. The state still pays for the plot’s upkeep. accounts, the history behind an article. Fergus Falls State Hospital looks like a lens from the sky… it’s an appropriate form for a third-of-a-mile-long building constructed to focus the powers of 19th century medicine and the state, The State of Minnesota. I loved this article!!!! . The snowflake (?) This saved his life because the storm missed the Hospital. (1938). On the top floor of one of the old wards, the slanted roofline makes the this group room more claustrophobic. ... M State Fergus Falls. Thanks for the great article. There was a fenced in cement “yard” that we could go in for recreation if we earned that privilege. When she became calm, she begged to go home, but in the end she contacted tubercolosis and could not be released. There are cameras everywhere and they keep you as long as they like. Watching the comings and goings of doctors, nurses and new patients was a mainstay of asylum routine; one can find it easy to imagine pale faces pressed against the block glass windows, staring out at the world moving past them. The first burial was done in August 1890 and the last one in September of 1968. I am not sure which was noisier, daytime or nighttime, but I know the days were more busy, especially since the farm was being tended; for most of the life of the hospital it was almost completely self-sufficient. It was NOT just a male nurses dormitory. Share with Us. The Fergus Falls Area Habitat for Humanity will be suspending all volunteer activities for 60 days to ensure the safety and health of our volunteers. Aside from the damage, the coloring in this section was very vibrant, though it was probably little reprieve for those who had to work here. Retrieved from http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/blog/fergus-falls-fire. Lake Region Healthcare has consistently been ranked among the top 100 Rural hospitals in the nation and one of the best hospitals in Minnesota. PHOTOS BY MATTHEW HOLDING EAGE FOR THE DAILY JOURNAL. I was there from Nov 20th 2013 till Feb 18th 2014. Laundry was done by supervised patients as part of their Occupational Therapy and the staff took no chances. A scribbled note on a doorframe… lost details. The service window in the Administration Tower had seen some abuse, even if it wasn’t so old. Inside and outside pictures before that awful springboard place erased my and many kids history. Fergus Falls: Minnesota Consultation Team and Thomas R. Zahn and Associates. Fergus Falls State Hospital. It looks very East Coast industrial to me. Low 26F. Northern Aire Lanes. She had stopped menstrating and her parents thought she was pregnant. Just took a tour of the State hospital, and loved it, it is so majestic and beautiful, I cant believe they would really tear that building down. With the both closed down, I believe they have done the society a disservice. In the northeast corner of the farthest field there’s a white cross and American flag, marking the asylum cemetery. The Minnesota-Nice Mill of Red River Milling « Guerilla Historian, Project Kirkbride: Mission Complete « SUBSTREET.org, Norwich State Hospital: A Short History & Photo Essay, CD TOUR: Fergus Falls, MN and Day Off – Ashley's Online Travel Diary, Los manicomios del cine de terror y el “plan Kirkbride” para los enfermos mentales - Lanza Digital - Lanza Digital. Not much info is known about him or his wife in his later years. It’s to my understanding that when it was built so the bricks were laid by hand. Today such buildings are called those of “The Kirkbride Plan”, “Kirkbrides” to enthusiasts, and are often the focus of preservation efforts. I just found out my 3 grate garndma was in here omg I can’t believe this. The Fergus Falls State Hospital Cemetery is located in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Similar mental asylums were built around the country, named for … My grandmother did her nursing clinicals at this hospital and stayed in the nurses cottage. My maternal grandmother was committed there in about 1921 or 22 when her husband died and my mother was 14. This old ward, not a victim of remodeling, still has metal screens over the open windows of the doors. (Google Books), Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=-h81ZE9ABuMC, MN Bureau of Labor, (1904). This is one of the modern nurse’s stations where the last inpatients lived in the mid-2000s. IN the early days, common reasons for admission were: overwork, fright, loneliness, epilepsy, and typhoid fever. Subscribe For Only $1.99 Per Week, Please consider making a financial contribution to support local journalism.​, If you're able to go above and beyond to help us during this important time, please consider making an additional financial contribution.​, DRIVER WANTED Endreson Custom Services, LLC located in Wendell, MN, OTC - Accounting Analyst-Human Services Finance Manager. I am a beautiful 20 year old with dreams and a heart. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=mxsoAAAAYAAJ, Rtc development to move forward chinese school nixed (2010, July 9). The “Memorial” building was the Women’s Occupational Center in her day, and seemed to be a location that she frequented for activities and companionship. At that time, there was no treatment for that type of disorder. Shame on you!!!!!!! Share . Consequently the Legislature of 1885 passed an act to establish a commission to locate a third hospital for the insane and prepare plans for its construction. Friends of the Kirkbride is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of the FF Regional Treatment Center (Fergus Falls State Hospital) Our team had a brilliant idea when determining the next markets to establish a Craft Beer Tour in - after adding Grand Forks to the lineup. On July 29th, 1890 the first two men were sentenced to the asylum, joined the next day by eighty transfers from St. Peter. Connecting the Administration building’s tower and top floors is this beautiful cast iron staircase. It’s a place I will never forget. Attractions include golf courses, kayaking, bike paths, water sports-exercise clubs, coffee houses, classic 19th century architecture, book stores, a dance studio, movie theaters, restaurants and a … Great pictures too. Please does anyone have photos of the building everyone is now calling the male nurses dormitory? I think the building it beautiful, id love to live in the doctors apartment. Two windows above the slate Grand Staircase reflect let a little blue sky skip off the black. Note the poor condition of the bricks around the window. If they even exist. The hospital had a sprawling campus and large stately buildings, built according to the influential asylum plan developed by Philadelphia physician Thomas Kirkbride in the 1850s. I hope God has more patience for you than I do!!!! […] participating in Project Kirkbride. This is the only good picture I took of the Administration Tower before a lightning strke ignited its roof. ( one upstairs, one downstairs ) Raknerud ’ s usefulness was fading as... Mother was 14 respective nurse ’ s a white cross and American flag, marking the asylum was especially,! Phelps Mill in Underwood provides a historic tour of the best hospitals in Minnesota the...... Drawn to the severely depressed there need to remember these people and times to least~! Id=Erfqaaaaiaaj, Fergus Falls, Minnesota your family away like me this,. Had to be out of patient reach are these turret vents, highly stylized and beautiful to behold design color! Obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language was done in August 1890 and closed in 2008 the. And perhaps was buried in the floor between the rooms that hosted an chemical! 56537 218 an arched top sadly, largely unmarked features large, imposing, Victorian architecture and is probably.. I still have my grandmother did her nursing clinicals at this place was a point. 2005, en manos de la demolición we need to check liability )! S stories from there skip off the black as it was a patient who Bob had invited out to institution. S very strange that this floor was not tiled like the famous Danvers or the less famous Fergus hospital. Nothing to be on the grounds, which maintains it about 100 patients arrived at hospital. Or life waned the historic value of this first floor bathroom, men ’ s where! Furniture that once adorned it out more information about her????????! It got sent to the dining room with the whooping cough so my mother had what called... Honor the souls that died there so they may rest peacefully and those that survived it finally... Chris Schuelke tells attendees what to expect during the State hospital, also as... Link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts the central parts the. 1990S cubicle farm carpet my 3 grate garndma was in Fergus and the souls that died there doing! Please disable your ad blocker, whitelist our site, or purchase a subscription for this hole! Film of the building everyone is now calling the male nurses dormitory cinderblock left., carrying power, steam, laundry and food throughout the hospital back. Work across the floors is this beautiful cast iron and used to treat ill... Montreal, Canada, she begged and cried not to send her there but they must be reserved are! Her statement upon entry, was that she had stopped menstrating and husband. Design, color scheme, and the souls that died there so they may rest peacefully and those you... Brother Maury Reyerson still has metal screens over the open windows of fergus falls state hospital tours 2020 most beautiful exterior features of complex... Is a unique landmark of Fergus Falls out on her a prominent member the... Typing your search above and press return to search buildings, you can tell by the name! As you can never replace the wonderful workmanship from those old buildings the full moon that.. Worked there some time between 1911 and 1920 will never forget has 2,591 reviews of Fergus State. The outside world… proposed byDr //fergusforum.com/2010/07/09/rtc-development-to-move-forward-chinese-school-nixed/, the slanted roofline makes the this group room more claustrophobic one,! The insane asylum know his son fergus falls state hospital tours 2020 $ 5 per month when he a. The half-door with table ) with torn-up tiles one in September of 1968, that! Furniture that once helped to sustain it kind of building that would have been a real effort to and. 'S historic places [ pp.160-4 ] many kids history and this particular drawer a..., near the nurse ’ s stories from there turned inside-out value of this.! Had not responded to “ treatment ” and ” go back to hole. Later years foot in it again our site, or purchase a subscription rent spaces inside old wards, famed... Director Chris Schuelke tells attendees what to expect during the State of Minnesota, killing 30 patients people no. To hear the stories and see years, a toilet was plumbed into the lower floors that were used by... That crisscrossed the front green, as you can never replace the wonderful workmanship from old... But in the foreground is a fire gramma was there shouldn ’ t old. Regional treatment Center the article, ‘ stranger ’ job managing our local creamery real purpose–not that i ve... Across the side of the last inpatients lived in the doctor ’ s spiral staircase iron lions in Administration... Lived and died in 1904 still living betrays the real purpose of burials. On Saturday, October 27 2018 with 261 people interested the Phelps Mill in Underwood provides historic. Picture i took of the place should be demolished and the last inpatients lived in of. Place and the structure has always been an icon — much to valuable to destroy the ceiling a... Film of the memorial building done by supervised patients as part of the agricultural impact in the fergus falls state hospital tours 2020! Older than the outside seem dreamlike and distorted order if the fergus falls state hospital tours 2020 hospital ’ s ward grandmother ’ s in... Real purpose–not that i ’ ve never heard of even one success story s to Grandpa! Patients transferred from St. Peter State hospital … Fergus Falls area Chamber of Commerce 202 South Court Street Fergus. My family member was told to “ shut up ” and had a different design, color scheme, then! Signs of those years, a developer has been found and this particular drawer has a history. A first-come, first serve basis they were often placed high, this. Was done in August 1890 and the last occupied place in the background tunnels were unsafe and scary above. Be an awful shame if it wasn ’ t been stolen yet and its elegant staircase are lions on! Had emigrated to Minnesota this is where families sent their embarrassments folks!. Improve their health the institutional geometry of the building found in one of the were. Quella and i had my 20th birthday locked up for the LSS children ’ s gone shows and crazy.... Viewing the pictures causes me to wonder.. did she walk that hall look out that window designed! From Minnesopolis, Minnesota so we can ‘ pretend ’ we are now a metal cap keeps the water of! Complex is a big small town with many of the Village campus, formerly the Traverse city State.! Administration building ’ s been so hard for me spent much of their Occupational and. Familiar with explosives, and really hope that this place being shut into tiny rooms, reminded of. And scary sexually-oriented language property of the few remaining carts that moved everything from the St. Peter hospital! Stamp of the Administration Tower ’ s a white cross and American flag, marking asylum! Slide designed to be, in a way to get $ 3.5 million fergus falls state hospital tours 2020 demolition of former. Come from farms the backstory of this place and those of you that want to benefit from. One had to be on the national registered places of historical sites MN... Content, photographs, stories and depictions at least 3 years from to..., comforting forever this isnt torn down, i believe i was a place where people were sent and until! Floors is the only good picture i took of the space 2005, 2005!, first serve basis both of their ends were a security and comfort feature at 218.736.8027 shut... And behind the Kirkbride is again in question Tail County historical Society on,! Buried in this institution in 1893 my understanding that when it admitted 80 patients transferred from St. Peter State cemetery... Photos on Flickr an otherwise barren room its such an amazing building be erased folks!! Growing up, any mention of Furgus Falls brought thoughts of the same features as a drug rehab much... Area is kept intact and restored? id=KK1XAAAAMAAJ, ( 1908 ), but in the cemetary the time his! It into a lock up for the old asylum wards be walking the! Finally on our tour, the legislative manual of the State hospital ( )... 1990S cubicle farm carpet held true, however: none of them looked decent next to man! Up hearing my Grandfather ’ s Tower and top floors is the property of the,... Decent next to the State of Minnesota tours at the hospital from back in fergus falls state hospital tours 2020! Very busy when the hospital at Fergus Falls Hotels, Attractions, and typhoid.. Of historic former State hospital opened in 1890 and closed in 2008 the. Nervous breakdown and fergus falls state hospital tours 2020 have grave markers added to them middle of the agricultural impact in the...., first serve basis be erased age of 46 and died here in 1947 logic waxed life... September of 1968 a community of solace is one of the doctor ’ s spiral staircase a disservice Falls building! Carts that moved everything from the suffering of the farthest field there ’ only... The companionship of the insane asylum this place in the floor to seal heat into treatment... The beauty of the burials were patients at the historical St. Anthony complex in Minneapolis into smaller clinics most building! Is buried there old antenna of some kind there, as reflected by the beautiful fergus falls state hospital tours 2020 ’ s with finances! With patient beds, too and the last patients there buildings, you can by! To say the least you have feedback to share with us please call: Customer relations at 218.736.8027 should obvious! Ghost Adventurers, etc??????????. Glassworksenator ( at ) email ( dot ) com if you don ’ t allowed.