Henryton State Hospital

Henryton State Hospital
Henryton State Hospital
Established	1921
Construction Began	1921
Construction Ended	1923
Opened	1922
Closed	1985
Current Status	Closed
Building Style	Demolished
Alternate Names	; Henryton Center ; ; Henryton Tuberculosis Sanatorium; ;

History

Established in 1922 by Chapter 464, Acts of 1922, Henryton State Hospital is located in a wooded, steeply sloped rural area in the southeast corner of the County. The facility was established in 1922 as a tuberculosis hospital for the “Negro” population. In July of 1963 the hospital was transferred to the Department of Mental Hygiene and was converted to a special training and habilitation program for severely retarded, ambulatory adults. Admission was handled through Rosewood State Hospital. Occupancy was to be 400 once when conversion was completed. Henryton closed in 1985.

The Henryton campus consists of eighteen buildings, with a total of 228,000 square feet. The campus is located on 46 acres in the middle of a State Park. The main buildings at Henryton include three connecting multi-story structures, built between the 1920’s and 1940, containing approximately 119,000 square feet. The earliest building comprised the original tuberculosis hospital. Two additions were built and renovations were made to the original building between the time of the original construction and 1940. There are also five support buildings located nearby. These were built between 1936 and 1952 and contain approximately 96,000 square feet. Seven small maintenance buildings or sheds scattered throughout the campus were constructed between the 1920’s and 1940 and have a total of 8,000 square feet of space. Finally, there are three other maintenance buildings constructed between 1957 and 1960.

Henryton has become a popular hangout for vandals, scrappers, and taggers. Since it's closure, the hospital has suffered greatly and is currently only a shell of it's former self. On Dec 19, 2007 80 Firefighters from three counties responded to a large fire in the auditorium. Because of the unsafe nature of the building, firefighters could only control the fire from the exterior. The auditorium and cafeteria have both since been demolished.

Demolition of the entire facility began in June 2013 and is expected to be completed by August 2013. The former hospital site will be allowed to return to nature as part of the state park that surrounds it.