Dever state school

Dever State School (Paul A. Dever State School), built as a military camp named Camp Myles Standish, is located in Taunton, Massachusetts. It was turned into a school for the mentally disabled in 1959. At this time, the name was changed to the Paul A. Dever State School, after the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1949–1953, Paul A. Dever.

The campus is about 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) and originally consists of 13 L-Shaped dormitory buildings connected by about 3 miles (4.8 km) of tunnels along with recreational sites. The majority of these buildings still stand today.

History

The camp was officially opened on October 8, 1942 and named after Myles Standish, an English military Officer hired as an adviser for Plymouth Colony. As a military camp, the Dever campus (Camp Myles Standish) was used in operations during WWII as a staging area for American and European troops.[1] It was even used as a detention center for about German and Italian prisoners of war.

The school was shut down in 1992 due to lawsuits and low funding but did not completely close until 2002.

Recent Activity

• April 15, 2009-Four of six suspected teens were arraigned in Taunton District Court for being accused of setting fires to Dever on January 2, 2009. “The incident occurred just before 8 p.m. at an abandoned residential building. A security officer reported a fire at the two-story structure commonly known as House #32, and it was quickly extinguished upon the arrival of Taunton fire personnel."[2] The teens were expected to have been back in court May 20 for a pretrial hearing.

• November 27, 2009-There were more suspicions of arson on Dever’s grounds when a few fires had broken out and completely destroyed one of the buildings. “The Dever school property contains a number of empty buildings that through the years have either been vandalized or set afire by arsonists.”[3] The interior markings inside one building even suggest that it was home to a paintball game a short time after it’s abandonment.

• December 13, 2009-Another fire had broken out. "The latest fire was reported at 9:30 p.m. and caused minor damage to an empty one-story building, according to Deputy Fire Chief Michael Sylvia — who also said that the blaze originated in the front entry area of what years ago was known as a Brigadier’s Quarters."[4], the arsonist got away on what authorities said was a dirt bike.

See also

• Camp Myles Standish
• Paul A. Dever

References

• Dever State School. December 2009 <http://www.opacity.us/site51_dever_state_school.htm>.
• "FAQ." 2007. The Dever Association for the Retarded, Inc. December 2009 <http://www.deverfamilies.org/faq.html>.
• Lopes, Ashley. "Dever State School." 15 April 2009. Opacity. December 2009 <http://www.opacity.us/article104_teens_arraigned_on_dever_arson_charges.htm>.
• Winokoor, Charles. "Arson Suspected In Dever School Fire." 14 December 2009. Taunton Daily Gazette. December 2009 <http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x819334014/Arson-suspected-in-Dever-school-fire>.
• —. "Fire Destroys Paul A. Dever Building." 27 November 2009. Taunton Daily Gazette. December 2009 <http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1792915250/Fire-destroys-Paul-A-Dever-building>.

External links

• http://www.opacity.us/site51_dever_state_school.htm
• http://www.deverfamilies.org/faq.html

Coordinates: 41°57′12.11″N 71°07′11.98″W / 41.9533639°N 71.1199944°W / 41.9533639; -71.1199944