Letchworth Village

Letchworth Village

Location Data

Built: 1908 Closed: 1996
Opened: 1911 Demolished / Renovated: n/a
Location Age: 105 years Abandonment: 17 years
Current Status: Abandoned
Location Genre: State School / Developmental Center
Located In: Thiells, NY United States of America US
Alternate Names: Letchworth Village Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptics, Letchworth Village Developmental Center, LVDC, Hudson Valley DDSO, Eastern New York State Custodial Asylum, Secor Colony, Disbrow Colony

In 1907, appropriations were made to construct the Eastern New York State Custodial Asylum in rural Theills N.Y. as a response to a growing need to house the "feeble-minded and epileptic." 2,000 acres of sprawling farm country were purchased for $188,575 in 1907; one year later, the hospital was renamed Letchworth Village Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptics after William Pryor Letchworth, a noted humanitarian and philanthopist who was familiar with institutional conditions. The hospital was touted as the model institution for the disabled since its opening. Several principles were laid out and adhered to during the construction of the hospital to ensure the utmost quality in care, many of which were obtained from William Pryor Letchworth via personal interview:

These rules might remind one of the well-known plan for mental hospitals devised by Dr. Thomas Kirkbride - it was in fact his son, Franklin Kirkbride, who wrote passionately about the care and well being of the institutionalized, and was instrumental in founding Letchworth Village. These plans led to six groups of buildings laid out in a U-shape pattern. In the center of each horseshoe shaped group was a kitchen and dining room, and a hall that was to be used as a gym, theater, and Sunday school. Not far from each group was an attendant's home and doctor's residence. There were three groups based on mental capacity for each sex; one for the young and improvable, one for the middle-aged and industrious, and one for the infirm and helpless. Other buildings consisted of administrative offices, laboratory, fire house, boiler house, laundry, refrigeration plant, bakery, store house, workshops and a tuberculosis hospital.

The ideals of the facility included a high level of care in a home-like setting of flagstone cottages in an idyllic setting. It was hoped that this institution would provide a model for others in that the patients could be taught and improved enough to return to society, rather than locked away and receiving custodial care at best - a trend that was occuring at most of the similar hospitals across the country. Although the care at Letchworth was considered as one of the best one could recieve in the country, it too was plagued with overcrowding and staff detriments as reported by Albert Deutsch in his Shame of the States (1949).

Letchworth Village was closed in 1996. The large campus now lies in the crux of the three towns of Haverstraw, Theills, and Stony Point. Much of the open land has been repurposed into a golf course, and one of the groups of buildings has been renovated into the Fieldstone Secondary School, which has retained the look and feel of the original cottages. Many of the buildings are abandoned however, and some have fallen victim to arson, such as Kirkbride Hall and the laboratory.

In 1996, Spectrum Communities have planned to develop the property into a mixed use community called Encore Haverstraw, however plans have stalled due to lack of funding.


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Date Published Title
11-29-2010 Another building burns at Letchworth Village
07-17-2010 Fire destroys abandoned Letchworth house in Thiells
01-14-2008 Haverstraw wary on Encore project as developer hits financial rocks
12-06-2006 Large building in flames at Letchworth