Gaebler Children's Center

Last updated
Gaebler Children's Center
Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
Gaebler Children's Center Exterior Photo.jpg
Gaebler Children's Center
Geography
Location Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
Coordinates 42°23′54″N71°12′29″W / 42.39836°N 71.207993°W / 42.39836; -71.207993 Coordinates: 42°23′54″N71°12′29″W / 42.39836°N 71.207993°W / 42.39836; -71.207993
History
OpenedOctober 8, 1955
ClosedSeptember 1992

Gaebler Children's Center was a psychiatric institution operated by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health for severely mentally ill children and adolescents, located in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The center opened on October 8, 1955, near the grounds of the Metropolitan State Hospital and closed in September 1992. It was named after William C. Gaebler, the second superintendent of the Metropolitan State Hospital. The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) closed the center as it was antiquated and could no longer serve the needs of the children it housed. According to the DMH, this closure coincided with the decision to place mentally ill children in community settings instead of in institutional settings. Others felt the center was closed due to budget cuts.

According to the Waltham Land Trust and The Boston Globe , the grounds of the Gaebler Center are currently being considered for redevelopment. (The Gaebler Center is now slated for Demolition with bids to be received prior to April 15, 2010) [1]

Demolition and site development contractor Testa Corp won the bid to begin destruction of the area, as indicated by a sign recently erected at the entrance.

Mayor Jeanette McCarthy said the building was bought by the city of Waltham in 2005 in order to have some control over the development of the seven-acre site. Demolition of the Gaebler Children's Center was completed in January 2011. The work cost the City of Waltham approximately $637,000. There are no current plans for the 55-acre lot. [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

McLean Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. It is noted for its clinical staff expertise and neuroscience research and is also known for the large number of famous people who have been treated there. McLean maintains the world's largest neuroscientific and psychiatric research program in a private hospital. It is the largest psychiatric facility of Harvard Medical School, an affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital, and part of Mass General Brigham, which also includes Brigham and Women's Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waltham, Massachusetts</span> City in Massachusetts, United States

Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning, spawning what became known as the Waltham-Lowell system of labor and production. The city is now a center for research and higher education, home to Brandeis University and Bentley University as well as industrial powerhouse Raytheon Technologies. The population was 65,218 at the census in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan State Hospital (California)</span> Hospital in California, United States

Metropolitan State Hospital is an American public hospital specializing in psychiatric care for those with mental health concerns, located at 11400 Norwalk Blvd in the city of Norwalk in Los Angeles County, California. As of August 2016 it had 780 patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan State Hospital (Massachusetts)</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Metropolitan State Hospital was an American public hospital for the mentally ill, on grounds that extended across parts of Waltham, Lexington, and Belmont, Massachusetts. Founded in 1927, it was at one time the largest and most modern facility of its type in Massachusetts. It was closed in January 1992 as a result of the state's cost-cutting policy of closing its mental hospitals and moving patients into private and community-based settings. The main complex of buildings has subsequently been redeveloped into apartments. The hospital campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1994. The property also housed the Gaebler Children's Center for mentally ill youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center</span> United States historic place

The Walter E. Fernald State School, later the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center, was the Western hemisphere's oldest publicly funded institution serving people with developmental disabilities. Originally a Victorian sanatorium, it became a "poster child" for the American eugenics movement during the 1920s. It later was the scene of medical experiments in the 20th century. Investigations into this research led to new regulations regarding human research in children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kings Park Psychiatric Center</span> Former psychiatric hospital in New York, United States

The Kings Park Psychiatric Center, known by Kings Park locals as "The Psych Center", is a former state-run psychiatric hospital located in Kings Park, New York. It operated from 1885 until 1996, when the State of New York closed the facility, releasing its few remaining patients or transferring them to the still-operational Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirkbride Plan</span> Mental asylum design created by Thomas Kirkbride

The Kirkbride Plan was a system of mental asylum design advocated by American psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809–1883) in the mid-19th century. The asylums built in the Kirkbride design, often referred to as Kirkbride Buildings, were constructed during the mid-to-late-19th century in the United States.

In November 2004, voters in the U.S. state of California passed Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), which has been designed to expand and transform California's county mental health service systems. The MHSA is funded by imposing an additional one percent tax on individual, but not corporate, taxable income in excess of one million dollars. In becoming law in January 2005, the MHSA represents the latest in a Californian legislative movement, begun in the 1990s, to provide better coordinated and more comprehensive care to those with serious mental illness, particularly in underserved populations. Its claim of successes thus far, such as with the development of innovative and integrated Full Service Partnerships (FSPs), are not without detractors who highlight many problems but especially a lack of oversight, large amount of unspent funds, poor transparency, lack of engagement in some communities, and a lack of adherence to required reporting as challenges MHSA implementation must overcome to fulfill the law's widely touted potential.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danvers State Hospital</span> Former psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, USA

The Danvers State Hospital, also known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, The Danvers Lunatic Asylum, and The Danvers State Insane Asylum, was a psychiatric hospital located in Danvers, Massachusetts. It was built in 1874, and opened in 1878, under the supervision of prominent Boston architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, on an isolated site in rural Massachusetts. It was a multi-acre, self-contained psychiatric hospital designed and built according to the Kirkbride Plan.

The Waltham Land Trust is a private, non-profit corporation that seeks to preserve open space in Waltham, Massachusetts. The trust currently sponsors many projects, including the protection of the grounds of the former Gaebler Children's Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athens Lunatic Asylum</span> United States historic place

The Athens Lunatic Asylum, now a mixed-use development known as The Ridges, was a Kirkbride Plan mental hospital operated in Athens, Ohio, from 1874 until 1993. During its operation, the hospital provided services to a variety of patients including Civil War veterans, children, and those declared mentally unwell. After a period of disuse the property was redeveloped by the state of Ohio. Today, The Ridges are a part of Ohio University and house the Kennedy Museum of Art as well as an auditorium and many offices, classrooms, and storage facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital</span> Hospital in Morris Plains, New Jersey

Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital referred to both the former psychiatric hospital and the historic building that it occupied in Morris Plains, New Jersey. Built in 1876, the facility was built to alleviate overcrowding at the state's only other "lunatic asylum" located in Trenton, New Jersey. Originally built to accommodate 350 people, the facility, having been expanded several times, reached a high of over 7700 patients resulting in unprecedented overcrowding conditions. In 2008, the facility was ordered to be closed as a result of deteriorating conditions and overcrowding. A new facility was built on the large Greystone campus nearby and bears the same name as the aging facility. Despite considerable public opposition and media attention, demolition of the main Kirkbride building began in April 2015 and was completed by October 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton State Hospital</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

Grafton State Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Grafton, Massachusetts that operated from 1901 to 1973. Today, the site has been redeveloped with Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine as a major occupant, along with the Grafton Job Corps office and various other State agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton-Wellesley Hospital</span> Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, US

Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Founded in 1881, part of its campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Newton Cottage Hospital Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riverview Hospital (Coquitlam)</span> Hospital in British Columbia, Canada

Riverview Hospital was a Canadian mental health facility located in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It operated under the governance of BC Mental Health & Addiction Services until it closed in July 2012. In December 2015, the provincial government announced plans to replace the obsolete buildings with new mental health facilities scheduled to open in about 2019. As of 2019, several unsafe buildings have been torn down but no new construction has started.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elgin Mental Health Center</span> Psychiatric hospital in northern Illinois, United States

The Elgin Mental Health Center is a mental health facility operated by the State of Illinois in Elgin, Illinois. Throughout its history, Elgin's mission has changed. At times, it treated mental illness, tuberculosis, and provided federally funded care for veterans. The hospital's site, which included a patient-staffed farm reached a maximum of 1,139 acres (461 ha) after World War II. Its maximum population was reached in the mid 1950s with 7,700 patients. Between 1993 and 2008, most of the older buildings in the complex were demolished due to being in poor condition as the result of being abandoned for decades. The site is/was popular among teens and in the paranormal world due to its claims of hauntings in the older buildings and the hospital's cemetery.

The Topeka State Hospital was a publicly funded institution for the care and treatment of the mentally ill in Topeka, Kansas, in operation from 1872 to 1997. Located at 2700 W 6th Street, the hospital opened in 1879, after the Osawatomie State Hospital, once thought to be sufficient, became overcrowded with mentally-ill patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worcester State Hospital</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

Worcester State Hospital was a Massachusetts state mental hospital located in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is credited to the architectural firm of Weston & Rand. The hospital and surrounding associated historic structures are listed as Worcester Asylum and related buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

  1. "The Waltham Land Trust". Archived from the original on 2006-01-15.
  2. The Boston Globe, Globe West section, Community briefing, p. 8, November 21, 2010
  3. Gaebler School Demolition Complete, Wicked Local Waltham, January 25, 2011