Haverford State Hospital

The Haverford State Hospital was an abandoned mental hospital outside of Philadelphia. Its extensive former grounds occupy the northern sections of Delaware County west of the city of Philadelphia, in Haverford Township.

It was constructed in 1964, and, except in parts of the 1970s, its patients enjoyed a bowling alley, private rooms, recreational activities, jobs within the hospital, some even being able to leave regularly. The entire complex consisted of 17 buildings, the largest being the Acute Intensive Care Center (Hilltop). The facility also contained a boiler plant, five extended treatment wards, two geriatric wards, and two kitchen buildings. When it closed in 1998 due to a lawsuit using the Americans With Disabilities Act, its superintendent was Aidan Altenor. Most of the patients were then transferred to the Norristown State Hospital. Today, most of its extensive lands are used for annual Halloween "ghost walks".

With the broken down mess of the hospital's past, the new development plans bring great change to the property's history of deer and weeds. According to the News of Delaware County the grounds will be a highmark for Haverford township, recreation properties overlooking the Blue route(476).

On November 14, 2006, the Haverford Township Board of Commissioners approved the Agreement of Sale and Preliminary Land Development Plans. The so-called Haverford Reserve development will include 100 carriage homes and 198 condominiums plus the Township will ultimately have several athletic fields and over 120 areas for passive recreation. The hospital has also been plagued in the past year by people scrapping for copper and other valuable metals. On April 5th 2007, the Pennsylvania Attorney General filed an indictment against 5th ward commissioner Fred C. Moran in conjunction with the sale of the state Hospital property. This scandal involved Fred Moran disclosing the bids of other potential developers (that were supposed be confidential) to one contractor in particular. He is awaiting trial.

Demolition of the former state hospital began in early June 2007. The first buildings to come down were the administration and recreation buildings, followed by the extended treatment and geriatric wards. The final two buildings to be demolished were the boiler plant, and the five story Hilltop building which finally fell on January 17th, 2008.

External links

* [http://www.lcmedia.com/mind0024.htm The Closing of Haverford State:A Special Report]
* [http://www.haverfordreserve.com Haverford Reserve Web Site]