Fort Wayne Developmental Center

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Fort Wayne Developmental Center
Construction Began 1887
Opened 1890
Current Status Closed
Building Style Cottage Plan
Location Ft. Wayne, IN
Peak Patient Population 2,700 in 1964
Alternate Names Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth, Fort Wayne State Hospital



History

In 1887, state legislators enacted a law providing for a new facility to be built in Fort Wayne. The "Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth" opened its doors on East State Boulevard three years later and admitted 300 children. The young people enrolled at the new school took classes in art, music and gym. As they grew older, girls were taught laundry and domestic skills while boys were taught farming, carpentry, brick-making, and cobblery.

By 1918, the facility's population swelled to well over 1,000 and included adults as well as children. Overcrowding and old facilities led to the 1954 decision to transplant the school to Parker Place Farm, one of four farms it owned and the site of the present campus. The state constructed 18 buildings on the 142-acre site to meet the needs of the residents. The move began in 1960 and, in fewer than 10 years, the school's population exploded to more than 2,500.

The facility was renamed the Fort Wayne State Developmental Center eight years later, and, in 1986, it made history once more when it became the first facility for the developmentally disabled (public or private, large or small) in Indiana to be accredited by the Accreditation Council on Services for People with Developmental Disabilities (ACCD). Amid controversy over it's closing, the announcement was made official in June 2007. Ivy Tech Community College has taken over the property and will begin demolition this summer to make room for it's new North Campus buildings.

Images of Fort Wayne Developmental Center

Main Image Gallery: Fort Wayne Developmental Center