Mount McGregor Correctional Facility

Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility was a medium security prison for male inmates in the Town of Moreau, Saratoga County, New York, USA. It was served by the Wilton, New York post office and included 100 structures on over 1,000 acres. Before updating security, it was called "Camp Walkaway" due to the number of breakouts.^[1] It became a prison in 1976 and closed on July 26, 2014.^[2]

History

The peak, Mt. McGregor, was originally called "Palmertown Mountain", named after a local native tribe. It was renamed after Duncan McGregor, who purchased the land in a tax sale and constructed a small resort along with a restaurant for summer visitors. The Saratoga, Mount McGregor and Lake George Railroad later bought the property and opened a more sumptuous resort at the end of a rail line. When the Hotel Balmoral burned in 1897, the resort faded in popularity.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Sanatorium Infirmary at Mt. McGregor

The "Sanatorium on the Mountain" at Mount McGregor was opened in 1913 by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for the benefit of its employees suffering from tuberculosis. It closed in 1945. This sanatorium, fully staffed by doctors and a nursing staff, had a goal of restoring the health of all the company's employees. A labyrinth of underground passages still exist that were used to transport the bodies of patients who died to the church and crematorium.

After World War II, the sanatorium served as a facility for military veterans returning to civilian life. Local stories suggest Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner looked into purchasing the property in the 1960s or early 1970s.

In 1960 the facility was taken over by the State of New York as a school for the mentally retarded. At first the school was the Mount McGregor division of Rome State School and then became Wilton State School.

The New York State Department of Corrections assumed control in 1976. At first the complex was a minimum-security prison, later adding medium-security facilities. It consisted of 100 structures on over 1,000 acres, including dormitories, a 1915 Mission-style chapel, a gymnasium and a lake. The buildings covered 550,000 sqare feet and ranged in age from 1913 to 2007. The prison closed in 2014.^[3]

Future use

Neighboring Moreau Lake State Park will incorporate 750 undeveloped acres of the former facility. As of 2015, the state is considering proposals for the sale of an additional 325 acres, including all the buildings, for redevelopment.^[3]

Grant Cottage

Grant Cottage State Historic Site, where former U.S. president and army general Ulysses S. Grant spent the last six weeks of his life, was within the grounds of the correctional facility and visitors had to pass a checkpoint. Grant spent the last weeks of his life there, finishing his memoirs just a few days before he died. The historic site is not part of the area to be sold.

See also

• List of New York state prisons

References

New York State Department of Correctional Services prisons Drug Treatment Centers Willard♂♀ Shock Facilities Lakeview♂♀ Moriah Minimum Security Butler Camp Georgetown Camp Pharsalia Edgecombe Lincoln Queensboro Rochester Medium Security Adirondack Albion♀ Altona Bare Hill Cape Vincent Cayuga Collins Fishkill Franklin Gouverneur Gowanda Greene Groveland Hale Creek ASACTC Hudson Livingston Marcy Mid-State Mohawk Ogdensburg Orleans Otisville Riverview Taconic♀ Ulster Wallkill Washington Watertown Woodbourne Wyoming Maximum Security Attica Auburn Bedford Hills♀ Clinton Coxsackie Downstate Eastern Elmira Five Points Great Meadow Green Haven Shawangunk Sing Sing Southport Sullivan Upstate Wende Closed Arthur Kill Bayview♀ Beacon♀ Buffalo Butler ASACTC Camp Gabriels Chateaugay ASACTC Fulton Lyon Mountain Mid-Orange Monterey Mt. McGregor Oneida Summit Above facilities are male-only unless noted by ♀(female) or ♂♀ (unisex)

Coordinates: 43°12′06″N 73°44′54″W / 43.20167°N 73.74833°W / 43.20167; -73.74833