Central Islip Psychiatric Center

USA / New York / Central Islip /
 historical layer / disappeared object, psychiatric hospital / clinic
 Upload a photo

Opened in 1889, closed in 1996 (along with the Kings Park Psychiatric Center).

It opened in 1889 to house the sick from Manhattan in what was called at the time the New Colony.[2] Kings County Farm Colony opened in 1890 to house those from Brooklyn. Pilgrim opened in 1931 and Edgewood in 1946 (which acted as Pilgrim's Tubercular Division).

The state bought the land for US$25 per acre.

49 male and 40 female patients were admitted in 1889 for "O&O" (Occupation and Oxygen) and "R&R" (Rest and Relaxation) at a working farm. Patients cleared the land, constructed buildings, made the furniture and mattresses, sewed their clothing, grew crops and raised dairy cattle, pigs and chickens.[3]

After New York State bought it, it was renamed the Manhattan State Hospital for the Insane (although the "for Insane" portion was frequently not included in articles).[4]

The initial buildings grew to be a nearly mile-long interconnected series of buildings called the "chain of pearls."

Until the Great Depression patients would arrive by a special hospital train with bars on the windows on a siding off the Long Island Railroad.

More modern buildings were arranged closer together in the Sunburst building.

The hospital was renamed the Central Islip State Hospital and finally the Central Islip Psychiatric Center.

It closed in 1996 when the last patients were transferred to the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.

The campus has been redeveloped into a variety of uses, including the New York Institute of Technology's Central Islip campus, a shopping center and residential housing. There are still a few abandoned buildings scattered about the campus.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°46'34"N   73°11'48"W

Comments

This article was last modified 4 years ago