kings park psychiatric center

The Kings Park Lunatic Asylum first opened its doors in 1885. Stationed on more than 800 acres, the complex worked as a self-sufficient farm community- approximately 70 percent of the patients held jobs on the grounds. Insulin shock therapy, shock therapy, and prefrontal lobotomies were all methods of treatment used at Kings Park, as well as Long Island's two other asylums, Pilgrim and Central Islip. Kings Park hit its population peak in 1954 with a whopping 9,300 patients. The patients turned workers proved to be priceless to the hospital's growth and ability to function, but eventually in the late 1960s it became illegal to employ patients without pay. Most work programs were shuttered, and patients were medicated and relocated to dayrooms with a TV in the corner. This helped to eventually bring along the movement towards deinstitutionalization. Patients could be kept calm and content on medications, and they could no longer be put to work for the hospital's benefit, so why keep them housed up on the state's dime? Kings Park slowly began the process of downsizing.

Social workers arrived on the campus to evaluative patients and place some in less-restrictive care. More serious cases moved to Pilgrim State. Elderly men and women moved on to nursing homes. Parts of the campus slowly closed down as the population dwindled until no one was left in 1996. Presently Pilgrim runs 2 residences in 3 buildings on the Kings Park campus. Everything else is empty.

In 2000 The Nissequogue River State Park was founded on the northernmost grounds of the former hospital, barring the area from commercial and residential development. Then in 2001 a real estate developer published a large study of the grounds, recommending redevelopment options for the remaining land. Estimated cleanup costs of demolishing existing structures and asbestos abatement have been pinned at as much as 80 million dollars. The land itself is valued at 55 million dollars. Basically the only way a developer could make money on the property would be to place a dense residential community on the grounds, and the town is strongly against this.

Cherokee Northeast and The Arker Companies have partnered together to try and redevelop the site.