The Kings Park Psychiatric Center, known by Kings Park locals simply 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.
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The Kings Park Psychiatric Center was established in 1885 by Kings County in nearby Suffolk County, adjoining the "Society of St. Johnland" established by William Augustus Muhlenberg, prior to the merger of Kings County with Queens County, New York County, Richmond County, and the Bronx County, to form the modern New York City. The official name of the hospital in its first ten years was the "Kings County Asylum," taken from the name of the county that Brooklyn occupied. The hospital was revolutionary at the time in the sense that it was a departure from the asylums of folklore, which were overcrowded places where gross human-rights abuses often occurred. The asylum, built by Brooklyn to alleviate overcrowding in its own asylums, was a "Farm Colony" asylum, where patients worked in a variety of farm-related activities, such as feeding livestock and growing food, as this was considered to be a form of therapy at the time.
Eventually, the Kings County Asylum began to suffer from the very thing that it attempted to relieve—overcrowding. New York State responded to the problem in 1895, when control of the asylum passed into state hands, and it was subsequently renamed the Kings Park State Hospital. The surrounding community, which previously was known as "Indian Head," adopted the name "Kings Park," which it is still known as today. The state eventually built the hospital into a self-sufficient community that not only grew its own food, but also generated its own heat and electricity, had its own Long Island Rail Road spur, and housed its staff on-site.
As patient populations grew throughout the early part of the 20th century, the hospital itself continued to grow, and by the late 1930s the state began to build upward instead of outward. During this period, the famous 13-story Building 93 was constructed. Designed by state architect William E. Haugaard and funded with Works Progress Administration money, the building, often dubbed "the most famous asylum building on Long Island," was completed in 1939 and would be used as an infirmary for the facility's geriatric patients, as well as for patients with chronic physical ailments.
Post-World War II, Kings Park and the other Long Island asylums would see their patient populations soar. In 1954, the patient census at Kings Park topped 9,303, but would begin a steady decline afterwards. By the time Kings Park reached its peak patient population, the old "rest and relaxation" philosophy surrounding farming gave way to pre-frontal lobotomies and electro-shock therapy. However, those methods would quickly be abandoned in 1955 following the introduction of Thorazine, the first widely used drug in the treatment of mental illness. As medication made it possible for patients to live normal lives outside of a mental institution, the need for large facilities like Kings Park diminished, and the patient population began to drop. By the early 1990s, the Kings Park Psychiatric Center, as it came to be known, was operating as a ghost of its former self, with many buildings shut down or in limited usage (including the massive Building 93, by the early 1990s, only the first few floors of the building were in use).
In the early 1990s, with patient populations at increasingly low levels, the New York State Office of Mental Health (formerly the Department of Mental Hygiene) developed plans for the closure of Kings Park as well as another Long Island asylum, the Central Islip Psychiatric Center. The plans called for Kings Park and Central Islip to close, and any remaining patients from both facilities transferred to Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, or be discharged. In the fall of 1996, the plans were implemented ending Kings Park's 111-year run.
Today, the sprawling area that once housed the Kings Park Psychiatric Center stands as a testament to a forgotten era. In the spring of 2000, the waterfront portion of the former campus was reopened as the Nissequogue River State Park, protecting it from development. The rest lies mostly abandoned with the rail spur, abandoned in the late 1980s, converted into part of a hike-bike trail in 2003. Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, which took the remaining patients from Kings Park, runs three group homes on the non-parkland portion of the campus while everything else is abandoned.
Since 1996, several proposals regarding the property have come and gone, and today, a developer is seeking to purchasing the non-parkland portions of the grounds from New York State. This development proposal has proven to be highly controversial as the former campus contains numerous obstacles to development. The greatest obstacles are several buildings that were demolished into their basements and buried while the hospital was still operating. Asbestos in these buildings was never properly abated. Other areas include buried ash containing unknown materials from the hospital's power generation facilities and asbestos in steam tunnels and remaining buildings. These problems have created a fear in the surrounding community that the developer will have no choice but to build high-density housing to offset the environmental clean-up costs and return a profit.
In January 2006, New York State aborted the sale of the property. The future of the site continues to remain uncertain at present with a suit filed by the developer pending in the courts. With the sale canceled, security has been increased at the facility as the property has been an attraction for trespassers.
In January 2009, officials announced that pets are no longer allowed on the former grounds of KPPC and NY State officials agreed on a new plan for the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center property that they called the most significant step in years toward getting the long-stalled redevelopment process under way.
Outgoing parks commissioner Bernadette Castro persuaded other state officials to transfer most of the hospital property to her agency. The plan calls for 368 acres (1.49 km2) to be added to Nissequogue River State Park, which was created in 1999 from 153 acres (0.62 km2) of adjacent hospital property. This occurred in 2007 and approximately ninety percent of the campus is now part of the park. Part of the plan also included the demolition of 15 particularly dilapidated buildings, as well as unused access roads. However, this plan has been suspended indefinitely.
Since closing its doors in 1996, trespassing has become a large problem at KPPC. This problem is fourfold, as enthusiasts of the paranormal, amateur writers, and photographer hobbyists visit the grounds. Additionally, KPPC has a reputation on Long Island as being haunted, which draws curious individuals from across the area. Vandalism has increased dramatically in recent years, with the interior of Building 93 being the focus of heavy graffiti.[1][2] King's Park Psychiatric Center, A Documentation is a website that also includes video images of building interiors. [3]. The websites are mostly operated by anonymous individuals. Since entering the abandoned buildings is illegal, the property is patrolled jointly by the New York State Park Police and the New York State Office of Mental Health Police. On occasion, Suffolk County Police and New York State Police can be seen on the grounds.
The 1995 movie Eyes Beyond Seeing, by director Daniel Robert Cohn, was filmed in KPPC's Building 136/137 (old medical/surgical unit) shortly after the building was closed down. The film also contains exterior shots of the famous Building 93 (The 13 story tall Geriatric/Ambulatory building), in an attempt to convince viewers that the interior shots were done inside 93.
The film stars Keith Hamilton Cobb as a mental patient claiming to be Jesus Christ, and also features a cameo by Henny Youngman, in his final movie appearance before his death, as a mental patient claiming to be Henny Youngman.
In 2009, another movie was made about KPPC. In this film the legend of Mary Hatchet was brought to the screen in "Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet" written and directed by Frank Sabatella. The film tells one version of the urban legend in the form of a ghost story filled with gore as a group of teens set out to celebrate Blood Night years after Mary killed her parents, was committed to KPPC, and was gunned down during her bloody escape.
The role of Mary was portrayed by Samantha Facchi. The film also stars Bill Moseley and Danielle Harris.
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