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Archiver > GenMassachusetts > 1999-10 > 0940809413


From: "jbuczek" <>
Subject: Re: [GM-L] info needed
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 19:56:53 -0400


In response to the above

It was called "Worcester State Hospital", the entrance is located (and
still is) at the intersection of Belmont St. and Shrewsbury St. on the East
side of Worcester. Rt 9 is Belmont St. I've had occasion to visit it in
my younger days as my mother was a nurse there and my father (adopted
parents) worked there in that time frame. The main buliding and adjoing
buildings are made of grey stone and would appear to some one today as an
English Fort. The main building is four stories high topped by a tower;
access to the court area is gained by walking/driving under an arched
connection between the main building and another building. With-in the
court area were the shops for the maintence people such as carpenters,
locksmiths, care takers etc. The main floor contained offices and nurses
quarters The second floor housed people in todays society that we know as
nursing home candidates or people whose children or parents, yes there were
young people mixed in with the older, that were no longer wanted or could
be cared for. The third floor housed the mildly mentally ill and they were
provided with separate rooms which held four people, those that today may
be Alzheimer patients. There were areas there that would allow inmates
some access to books and activities. The fourth floor, and the most
scariest to a child of twelve, held the violent people. They were held in
rooms of four people with heavy doors and steel beds. The beds had only a
mattress and a covering. These unfortunates where kept under guard at all
times and for an activity, they were provided with a large brick wrapped in
heavy carpet attached to a long stick which they pushed around the floor.
The floors shinned from this activity. The one time that I went with my
father to this floor was when an inmate broke apart a very large oak bench
with his bare hands and then proceeded to break down the heavy wooden
doors. My father was called in to repair the locks on the doors to
temporarily hold the inmates in.

The hospital occupied about 30 acres of land and had on it a show case
farming operation which delt with milking cattle. The farm itself was used
to show case to area farmers the newest of techniques used to raise milking
cattle. There were acres of vegetables farmed and flowers grown by the
inmates who were allowed to be released on a daily basis. The farm house
it self overlooked Lake Quinsigamnond and was enormous. It held the
Hospital Supervisor and his family and guests. A large farmers porch was
on the front of the building and faced the lake which was about a half mile
away but visable because the Hospital is located on a hill. The farm house
exists today and is used by UMass Medical Center for classes I believe.
UMass medical occupies the majority of the lake side property with it's
hospital.

Today if you had an opportunity to view the Hospital from a distance, you
would honestly beleive it to be haunted (I did and it may well be), for I
unfortunarley had an opportunity to view it this February at about dusk as
the bats or birds flew about the tower ready to settle in of leave for the
night.... very erie

Some interesting stories: On a visit with my father I happened to see a
young man about age 14 - 15 who looked familiar, when I remembered where I
had seen him, I was devasted. I was his age and he used to sell papers in
front of City Hall in Wocester, I would see him every day when I went to
school but no longer would I see him.

My mother told me of a patient who she was taking to the resident dentists
office to have a tooth extracted As they went throught the arched
over-pass, he broke lose from her, jumped through the glassed window
dropped to the ground twenty feet below and ran off towards the lake. When
they found him, he was attempting to drowned himself but the ice would not
cooperate, he had broken a leg and a an ankle but still managed to run
through the snow and ice to reach the lake about 1/2 mile away.

The area is completely surrounded by a stone wall made of the same material
as the building.... my father told me that one man built the entire wall
over a period of twenty years, it still exists and if laid straight it may
go the distance of 50 miles.

Sorry I got carried away... strange what a 62 year old man can remember
when he can't remember what he did yeaterday.

Hope this helps..... john


> Does anyone out there know what State Hospital served the Worcester area
in
> the 1920's. I sure would like to be able to find out. Thanks,
Carla
>

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