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"As of 8/2000, the northern half of the campus is owned by the Illinois State Veterans Association and has brought most of the smaller buildings to code and uses them daily. The southern half of the campus is owned by "Diversatech" and is currently being destroyed since the cost of bringing these buildings to code is stratospheric. I have heard informal plans of a museum for the hospital being put together in Manteno by some of the ex-employees, but I have no details. "


i live in illinois and me and some of my freinds plan to go visit...my other freinds have already been there,we arent vandeliseres we are just intersted in the spirits that remain there.

PINK LADY PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR INFO SWAP.

First Off and Fore Most, those of you how know nothing beyond what you found on a web site or two have no reson to be making noise. You don't know. I've been going to, and Researching Manteno State Hospital Since 1998. From an Interview I had with a nurse that worked there I found that the Hospital closed in 1982. As in it was no longer accepting patients and the buildings were being prepped for closure. They've sat for twenty years now with little more than a glance from the state. I have how ever Found Documents that show that the Laundry House was at least open and doing buisness untill 1999, and that the Machine Shop was still working under the Illinois Board of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities untill 1994 at the earliest. And recieveing shipping Information under the name Manteno Mental Health Center, Which means it had to still be operative to some small degree even after it was "closed".
If your going to ask questions, perhaps ask why these particular buildings were open after the closure of the Hospital it self, and what other buildings may have been in use at the time.
Second, Historicly speaking, The hospitals first building was finished in 1928 along with several other buildings. By 1945 it was the largest hospital in Illinois and rated top three in the country. At its peak it housed over 8 thousand people, Ranging from Alcoholics, to troubled youth, to the completley insane.
In 1976 The state began Admiting Mitimus Patients ( Criminaly Violent Patients that the stated either couldn't decide what to do with, or could not put in jail.) To Manteno Mental Health Center. Walk outs began, families started pulling people out and the Hospital suffered. In an atempt to comply and maintain control, The Brandon Building, Next to what is still the security office, was preped for Maximum Security Housing for the more criminaly insane.
This atempt failed as well and eventually, for what ever reason, the hospital closed. I have yet to get a straight answer on why it was closed down.
Third, The hospital did do some good, But it also did some harm. An Article in the Chicago Tribune (Nov 15, 1998 ) tells a story of a woman, First name Gennie, whom was admited by her parents for wanting to move away (she also may have had a mild form of Manic Depression ). She was Intelegent, going to College for a major in Chemistry in the early 40s. She had no real signs of Insanity aside from depression, but by 1945 she had been given 40 insulin coma "treatments" and undergone 14 bouts of electroshock therapy. By 1953 she had undergone over 187 bouts of electric shock therapy. By this time she was mute, and needed comands to do anything she needed to. After a needless labotomy and more electric shock, she was Incoherent and hid from things that weren't there. ( according to her personal files. )
There was a research ward at Manteno also, where patients were Involuntarily tested on to discover a cure for Mental Illness. I have no Idea which building that was though.
Every place has its dark side. Were patients mistreated? Yes. Were they worked Unfairly? Hardly. Patients were admited to doing light things, like gardening, tending to plants. They would often go to movies or the Hospital General store for Icecream. Not everyone who worked there was bad. Though, not everyone was good either. Keep that in mind. But realize this, that thought what occured there was a travesty, it would be an even bigger injustice to let the world forget that it happend. And that it didn't just happen there, but in Hospitals around the world. I think now...with the buildings being torn down in Record ammounts, its more of the state trying to cover tracks, than the state trying to make room for Low Income Housing.
In Ten years, will anyone remember Gennie, an Intelegent woman, mistreaded? No, will anyone remember that there was a hospital there, where people lived, laughed and cried? No. Unless something is done to preserve it.
So don't go blowing your horn before you know the facts. That place should be there as a reminder to the Entire town ship that won't utter a word about the place if you asked them. It should be a reminder to us all.