Maryville Center

Illinois · United States · Hospital

A Chicago institution for children who were disabled, in care, or born dependent on drugs. It closed and was boarded up, and the playground is still.

The Maryville Center at Oak Park Road and Forest Preserve Road in Chicago cared for children who were disabled, in the care system, or born dependent on drugs. It closed and was boarded up, with asbestos given as the reason.

The site is large. The buildings are lettered A, B, C and so on, and a main concrete path runs between them. Off to the left of that path is a rundown playground, still standing, that the children who lived here used.

What is reported here is inseparable from what the place was, and it is worth being careful about that. These were children who had already been let down by circumstance before they arrived. The reports collected on the site describe voices and figures around the residential blocks and the playground.

The property is closed, boarded and private, and it is not somewhere to go. We list it because the history is real and documented, and because a building that held children like these deserves to be remembered as something other than a place to go and get frightened.

FAQ

Where is Maryville Center located?

Maryville Center is in Illinois, United States.