Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital
The Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital began its life as the "State Asylum for the Insane". At this period in time during the late 1870's, New Jersey only had one other state-run psychiatric hospital in Trenton. The location was decided upon that of the beautiful Morris County, more specifically just outside Morristown in what is now known as Parsippany. Greystone officially opened its doors on August 17, 1876.
Greystone was built following the famous Kirkbride Plan by architect Samuel Sloan. The original building was 673,700 square feet and was deemed as the largest single building in the United States until surpassed by the Pentagon in 1943. The center main section of Greystone was for administrative purposes with various patient wings sprawling outwards from the center. Each wing was first set up to roughly house 20 patients each. The hospital had 40 wards which split into two wings detaching from the administrative section. The wings were separated by sex.
By the late 1890's, the hospital was already operating over capacity. Initially, the facility was set to hold 800 patients, by the late 1890's it was housing around 1,189 patients. In the early 1900's, the complex began building more dormitory buildings to accommodate the increase in patients. In 1912, a tuberculosis pavilion was constructed on the grounds to meet the needs of the expanding outbreak in the time period. Annexes were placed in the dormitory buildings in 1917 due to the patient population still seeing a significant increase each year. Cottages were constructed with the intent to have nurses and physicians live within their own separate quarters. Most notable are the Voorhees Cottage and the Knight Cottage. The Clinic Building was built in 1923 and all medical procedures were to be performed within the specific building. The Curry Building, named after Superintendent Marcus Curry, opened in 1927 as the new reception building. Through the years of 1929 and 1930, 3 fires broke out within the main building. The most devastating destroyed the central tower on November 26, 1930. In 1947, Greystone participated with Columbia University in a major study regarding lobotomies. They concluded the practice was barbaric and not causing any form of relief in patients. This changed the world of mental health care as the report called for the halting of the practice altogether.
In the modern era, Greystone struggled with the same problems as most large state-run mental health facilities. New psychiatric drugs were causing the need for such large facilities to become obsolete. The giant Kirkbride building was becoming expensive to maintain. A new hospital building was set to be built by Governor Todd Whitman and completed in the early 2000's. During the years of 2005-2008, the state began to demolish most of the "out buildings" that fell into disrepair. On July 16, 2008, all patients were moved to the new hospital. The beautiful Kirkbride soon fell completely vacant after administrative services made the move shortly after.
Morris County had purchased the land from the state and began construction on the park that occupies the land today off Central Ave. In 2013, the State of New Jersey announced the proposal of demolition of the historic Kirkbride. This caused an uproar in the community across the entire state and a group called Preserve Greystone was formed. The following years proved to be one of the most corrupt times with the State of NJ Government, leading to the complete demolition in 2015. Please visit our friends over at Antiquity Echoes to learn, with great detail, the entire timeline of corrupt demolition of one of the most historic buildings in America.
Read MoreGreystone was built following the famous Kirkbride Plan by architect Samuel Sloan. The original building was 673,700 square feet and was deemed as the largest single building in the United States until surpassed by the Pentagon in 1943. The center main section of Greystone was for administrative purposes with various patient wings sprawling outwards from the center. Each wing was first set up to roughly house 20 patients each. The hospital had 40 wards which split into two wings detaching from the administrative section. The wings were separated by sex.
By the late 1890's, the hospital was already operating over capacity. Initially, the facility was set to hold 800 patients, by the late 1890's it was housing around 1,189 patients. In the early 1900's, the complex began building more dormitory buildings to accommodate the increase in patients. In 1912, a tuberculosis pavilion was constructed on the grounds to meet the needs of the expanding outbreak in the time period. Annexes were placed in the dormitory buildings in 1917 due to the patient population still seeing a significant increase each year. Cottages were constructed with the intent to have nurses and physicians live within their own separate quarters. Most notable are the Voorhees Cottage and the Knight Cottage. The Clinic Building was built in 1923 and all medical procedures were to be performed within the specific building. The Curry Building, named after Superintendent Marcus Curry, opened in 1927 as the new reception building. Through the years of 1929 and 1930, 3 fires broke out within the main building. The most devastating destroyed the central tower on November 26, 1930. In 1947, Greystone participated with Columbia University in a major study regarding lobotomies. They concluded the practice was barbaric and not causing any form of relief in patients. This changed the world of mental health care as the report called for the halting of the practice altogether.
In the modern era, Greystone struggled with the same problems as most large state-run mental health facilities. New psychiatric drugs were causing the need for such large facilities to become obsolete. The giant Kirkbride building was becoming expensive to maintain. A new hospital building was set to be built by Governor Todd Whitman and completed in the early 2000's. During the years of 2005-2008, the state began to demolish most of the "out buildings" that fell into disrepair. On July 16, 2008, all patients were moved to the new hospital. The beautiful Kirkbride soon fell completely vacant after administrative services made the move shortly after.
Morris County had purchased the land from the state and began construction on the park that occupies the land today off Central Ave. In 2013, the State of New Jersey announced the proposal of demolition of the historic Kirkbride. This caused an uproar in the community across the entire state and a group called Preserve Greystone was formed. The following years proved to be one of the most corrupt times with the State of NJ Government, leading to the complete demolition in 2015. Please visit our friends over at Antiquity Echoes to learn, with great detail, the entire timeline of corrupt demolition of one of the most historic buildings in America.
