This was the lecure hall for medical students training at Byberry. They would come in here for lectures on mental health. Also, that graffiti of the cat (or lion or whatever it is) on the left has always creeped me out.

Which auditorium is this? There were three auditoriums: the old ballroom above the old women's (c-building) dining room, the Furey Ellis Hall (large auditorium), and the lecture hall (small auditorium).

Yeah, this is the old women's infirmary. The state built a large tuberculosis building (N-10) in the '50s, but when TB was nearly eradicated, they no longer had a need for that building. So, since N-10 was filled with medical equipment, they turned that into the new infirmary. This building was left vacant until demolition in 2006.

I was looking at some old blueprints of the auditorium, and apparently there is a way out onto the catwalks from the same floor as the projector room.

I worked in a theater like this last year, and I hated going up and down those spiral stairs. I have always had a fear of heights.

W-6 was known as the "senile ward" at one time. It housed the older patients with dementia (inc. alzheimers) along with its twin building, W-7.

This picture was made by WPA workers when building the administration building. They were comparing the work that the patients did for no money (along with the terrible conditions they were kept in) to slaves.

i am a college student wrapping up my final year of school and making a short documentary on the history of Fernald for a project. If there are any
former employees (or even residents on here) on here who would be willing to share any stories or information about Fernald I would me most grateful.

-Andrew
ajohnson1109@wsc.ma.edu

More fires have been started AFTER Pennhurst was clused than while it was open. Maybe they should've closed down the school and left the fire station open.

What building is this in? All the laundry was done in the laundry building, so if this isn't that building, then I don't know what this is.

Although I am Presbyterian, my dad grew up in the Baptist church. I went with him to his church a few times and they had a landscape portrait of a river in the front; apparently lots of Baptist churches have these. The rectangular object at the front looks like one of these. This room might've been used for religious services on Saturdays & Sundays. Also, I noticed a projector screen lying on the floor on the stage. It might've been put down to show movies.

I work with theater technology, and I have worked in many theaters. This was probably just a small auditorium or lectures or even small shows. The other theater was probably for more elaborate productions.

Also, those seats look really uncomfortable. >(

I think that metal door on the left might be for a fire hose or something. Although why they need a fire hose in a tiled room that is almost always wet is besides me.

It seems dangerous to have tile in all these rooms. With patients walking around and slipping on the tile, there would be inguries.

Underneath the sequence it looks like "Danny Kolb Have".

Is that a window on the wall to the right? If so, was it secured to keep patients out of the hallway as well?

So, Motts. You must do a lot of traveling. I've noticed you've taken pictures of these places from all over the place. Anyway, I was reading the discription on the main Henryton page, and it's strange; this hospital was a place for African American TB patients, but why was it run by the Mental Health Commission? Just wondering.

It used to be that people with TB were sent out to sanitoriums in the country. In some old photos of Byberry, you see some people out on porches in beds. These were people with TB, as they had to be kept away from the other patients. Also, they thought that fresh air would help cure TB.

I live in Charleston, SC, and an outskirt of Charleston is Summerville. It used to be a tiny little village, and there was a TB sanitorium there for a long time. Of course, nowadays, Summerville is a large town, and is no longer the country. The sanitorium was torn down a long time ago, before my mom was born.

Have you ever heard of the writer Dame Agatha Christie? She generally wrote mysteries, and one of her main characters was a man named Poirot. You remind me somewhat of him, Motts, as you both catch site of the smallest detail.

What building is this?

This is the basement of Limerick Hall.

The Pennhurst Memorial & Preservation Alliance (PM&PA;) actually rewired some of the buildings to get back electricity. They even installed a new telephone box, until it was destroyed by vandals.

This was the Assembly Building. It was located away from the rest of the campus.

Do you know what building this was in? It looks like it might've been in the Assembly Building, AKA the auditorium.

Strange that they were in the hospital building. These desks were usually in Rockwell Hall, AKA the school building.