Boarded-Up Ward Exterior, Kings Park Psychiatric Center

Kings Park Psychiatric Center opened in 1885 as the Kings Park State Hospital, part of New York's effort to move psychiatric care away from crowded urban institutions. At its peak in the 1950s, the campus held more than 9,000 patients across over 150 buildings on roughly 875 acres of Long Island farmland, much of it worked by patients as part of an early self-sustaining agricultural program. The hospital operated its own power plant, farm, and rail spur to move goods and coal across the grounds. Deinstitutionalization policies and the rise of outpatient psychiatric treatment led to a steady decline in population through the late 20th century, and the facility closed in 1996. Many of the brick ward buildings, including this one, have sat vacant for decades, their windows sealed with steel plates as the state weighs redevelopment and preservation of the site.

Photo taken in September 2008.