Bartonville State Hospital

Illinois · USA · Cemetery

An asylum on Pfeifer Road in Illinois where the treatments included submersion in water and shock therapy. It has been closed for a long time.

The Bartonville asylum in Illinois has been closed for many years. It is a three storey stone building on Pfeifer Road, with a number of other buildings on the site that were used for recreation and for other functions.

The treatments used here were the treatments of their period: submersion in water, shock therapy, and other methods that would be regarded as inhumane now. That is documented rather than rumoured, and it is the case for most institutions of this age.

What visitors describe inside the derelict buildings is noises and figures.

Bartonville has a genuine claim to fame in the history of American psychiatry, because a superintendent here in the early twentieth century removed the restraints and bars and ran the institution on a considerably more humane basis than the buildings suggest. The reputation the site now has does that period no favours.

The buildings are unsafe and access is restricted.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Bartonville State Hospital?

Bartonville State Hospital ligger i Illinois, USA.