Teens party and drink in these abandoned buildings and there is no security whatsoever. When will these issues be addressed?
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Unregistered(d) |
Decaying Manteno Mental Hospital - ILLINOIS |
Lead | |
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Why are these old dilapidated, abandoned and dangerous buildings with broken windows and all kinds of hazards left open to the public and not demolished? Who owns this property, the state? Arent there laws concerning abandonement of property? There is currently a treatment center for juvenilles amongst these dangerous and hazardous ruins. Why is this permitted?
Teens party and drink in these abandoned buildings and there is no security whatsoever. When will these issues be addressed? |
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Unregistered(d) |
Camarill was hell | ||
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Camarill state hospital was hell,its hurts to thank about
I went when I was 12-13 |
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Satatic |
Re: Decaying Manteno Mental Hospital - ILLINOIS | ||
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There is tons of security, the cops are there all the time. The buildings are in no way dangerous though. People get arrested there all the time, it is private property, the owners e-mail is idc@keynet.net
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Unregistered(d) |
manteno mental hospital | ||
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i have been in this hospital several times. from what i can see there is no security we just walked in. what i think is sad is that patient records were just lying around. does anyone know when this closed and why?
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bikr999 |
Re: manteno mental hospital | ||
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i live in illinios. can you give me directions from naperville or off a mahor highway. and is this place really big or small. can anyone give me some details on it
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Unregistered(d) |
Manteno State Hospital, IL | ||
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The state seems to lazy to tear it down, from the aerial pictures on this website
jewfish.net/thumbs.php?di...versatech/ , it seems that all wards must be in seperate buildings (kind of like how some public schools are made in California, vs. a public school in New England) |
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Satatic |
MSH | ||
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Its not the states property. Its privatly owned, except for the streets that go threw it. Also they don't tear them down becuase it costs to much to remove all the asbestos then tear them down. Why would they be wanted torn down anyway? They are landmarks and i doubt anyone thats wants them torn down has ever even taken the time to walk threw them and realy appreciate their beauty.
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Unregistered(d) |
Manteno State Hospital | ||
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Drove through facility this afternoon. I agree that it is a an unbelievably beautiful and historic facility. At it peak it must and housed hundreds and hundreds of patients. Where did they all go? The facility is perfect for a college campus of some type. Are there any future plans for the facility besides a vets hospital and bank? Does the asbestos problem preclude saving these well built, beautiful buildings?
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Unregistered(d) |
Manteno State Hospital | ||
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I work for a company that provides residential services to the mentally disabled, one woman that I know came to us from there. As far as I understand it, bringing the larger buildings up to code would cost more money than the owners are willing to spend, so they're sadly going to be demolished.
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Jim Domnick |
Manteno | ||
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The buildings may be somewhat architecturally interesting, but would any of YOU want to have spent YEARS inside them? That's what happened. The amount of sadness that occurred inside them is not to be believed.
While these buildings might make for a good community college campus, I otherwise would like to see them torn down. As they age, they will become dangerous. And as I mentioned above, people were brought here and forgotten. Some never left; there's a cemetery on the grounds. |
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Jim Domnick |
Re: Manteno | ||
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P.S. Manteno was Illinois' largest state hospital. It was built in the late 1920s, I think opening in 1929. I respectfully would disagree with those referring to the buildings as "landmarks" or "historic." Study the architecture; they look like warehouses and that's exactly what they were -- for people. They are OLD but nothing of significance occurred at Manteno, other than a typhoid outbreak and thousands of mentally ill people being locked up. Not exactly the kind of thing worth remembering, in my opinion.
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Satatic |
MSH | ||
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The buildings are kind of warehouses. But they did offer the patience entertainment of all sorts. This wasn't just a hospital of hell, they had shops where the patients could work and buildings used for entertainment. The place was closed in 1983 or 84. According to the daily journal it was 83, but i have found work orders in the mechanical shop dateing 1984. The main reason why they closed it was because of state budget cuts. The graveyard... its just not there anymore either. I guess they moved all the graves because where their graveyard used to be is now a corn field and the Veterans home grave yard. They have recently demolished the largest building there (Singer). The diversatech corporation saw the opportunity to destroy history and make money off of it so they leaped ontop of it. They are buildings low-income housing in its place... along with in place of the morgue that was demolished in 98. Kinda funny that the people who will live there will not know that. Check out my site, its got tons of great pictures of the campus and inside buildings. www.geocities.com/ilexploration
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Jim Domnick |
MSH | ||
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Yes, there were things for the patients to do, but there weren't many and they weren't always therapeutic. See how much the guys in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and you'll know what I mean. Also, some of the occupational things weren't safe or therapeutic. Patient labor was used to do things like clean the ashes from the power plants.
Diversatech is tasked with doing something to create jobs and benefit the area. If they have to tear down mental wards to do it, so be it. I'm interested in the history of mental health care but an awful lot of sorrow went on in those buildings. We agree to disagree about their historic value or lack thereof. Tearing them down is progress. You do have a nice site, but all the pages don't open. Nice work. |
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Satatic |
mANTENO | ||
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Yeah i don't know that tehy cleaned up ashes... but demolishing those buildings is not for the good of the community. Most of the buildings they demolished was just because people went in them to explore. They have done nothing with a lot of the land where buildigns used to be. Building homes on some of the land isn't a great idea because its far away from stores and town. They should have just left the entire place abandoned. There is plenty of other vacant land that can be used for homes and a veterans association. And where else would the people be without state hospitals? When state budget cuts and deinstitutionalization took place in the 70s, a lot of the patients were tossed out onto the streets or places in jails untill room was made at other institutions for them. I think they would have rather been in an institutuion then spend their days in jail. Also a lot didnt work on my site because i didnt have a lot of pictures or some of the pages wernt finished. Most are now but some pages i dont have pictures for... yet. www.geocities.com/ilexploration
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Jim Domnick |
MSH | ||
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You raise good points. I'm sorry to say, though, that there may be a good reason for tearing down buildings, especially if people are exploring. First, believe it or not, a site may be more attractive to a potential buyer, industry or developer if it's been leveled than if there's an abandoned hospital building on it.
Second, I think explorers know and accept the risks they take when the check out a place like Manteno. They know the risks and might not sue if they're hurt. But their families might not be as forgiving and may sue Diversatech or whoever 'til their head swims. Tearing down the building eliminates the hazard. In both cases, you have to put yourself in the shoes of a property owner. While I don't believe everyone who is mentally ill belongs in a hospital, I think there are plenty of mentally ill people who do belong in a hospital -- long term. And once you tear down a place, it is years before a new one can be built -- if ever -- to help them. So I share your skepticism. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. I think one of the buildings should be saved and perhaps become home to a small museum about the hospital, or perhaps the local historical society could move there, though I'd bet they like being in downtown Manteno. I agree that building homes is not a good idea. I think there is some halfway house there for troubled veterans, the veterans home, and also a home for kids who I think were sexually abused and also kids who were abusers. Not the kind of folks I'd want as neighbors. |
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Unregistered(d) |
"moral Treatment" | ||
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In the 1800's and going in to the 1900's when Manteno was opened mental health care was revolutionary compared to the famous asylums in france and england. Mental Health Care in the US was based on the "Moral Treatment" method which endorsed fresh air, nutricious food, good rest, and work. State facilities were a place where psychotic and other mentally ill people were safe from themselves and others were safe from them. Their families could not handle them. Jim, you want to be responsible for your psychotic relative? Sorry to disapoint you but extreme treatments like surgery, insulin and shock therapy were used VERY infrequently, and then only on those who were to out of it to know what was going on anyway.
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Jim Domnick |
MSH | ||
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I am well aware of the good intentions behind how places like Manteno and Kirkbride hospitals were built, and how they were a major improvement above other countries. They still fell far short.
And for your information, my family and I have to deal with a mentally ill mother-in-law. She suffered post-partum depression 30+years ago and has never snapped out of it. While this is a curable thing, my father-in-law has made no effort to get decent treatment for her because he grew up in a town where there was a Kirkbride asylum. Just about every one of his siblings worked there at some point, and despite the fact he's a teacher, he fears what may happen to his wife once she gets in the system. So yes, those lobotomy and ECT are done only in extreme cases, but they were done enough. |
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Unregistered(d) |
State Facilities | ||
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Jim, Sorry to to be so snippy in the last post, however I still disagree with you position that they fell short. In fact, I beleive that they offered the best that the technology at the time had to offer. Today they continue to do the same. Individuals at state facilities are not only treated with medication, they are treated for medical ills, and have an entire treatment team assigned to them, social worker to investigate funding and housing opportunities, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, and are even treated by dentists, optomitrists, and dietary specialists. The care is more comprehensive than private pay hospitals are able to provide. I shall not state my opinions about whether or not I believe tax payers dollars should support this comprehensive endeaver, I am simply trying to argue the quality of care provided.
Sorry if this strays to far from the original posting but I find the topic facinating. Arena |
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Jim Domnick |
MSH | ||
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You raised good points about them being the best that technology and psychiatry could provide at the time, and I agree.
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Unregistered(d) |
This can go out to the public | ||
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The memories of camarillo really panful.I was just 12,and I spent 6mounts there.
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Unregistered(d) |
manteno state hospital | ||
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I just drove through the grounds of the Manteno State Hospital. I have a friend who recently bought a new home built on the property...know as Diversitech. I have just read on here that these home sites use to have a morgue...and that there also used to be a cemetary on the grounds. Does anyone know how I can find info that prooves this? She does not believe me...and I find it really creepy to live there! Anyone know why this was closed? I was going to go inside...but it really freaked me out! There has got to be spirits wandering around...what do you all think? I can't belive that they are actually building homes there!! Mandy
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