Crumbling Plaster Reveals Brick Walls at Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building

The Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building was designed by architect Warren B. Dunnell and completed in 1890 as the main structure of the Fergus Falls State Hospital, a facility built on the linear Kirkbride Plan to treat patients with mental illness. The plan called for staggered wings extending from a central administration section, allowing every patient ward to receive natural light and ventilation. Cast-iron radiators like the one built into this room supplied steam heat piped from the hospital's own power plant, one of several self-sufficient systems that let the campus operate independently of the city of Fergus Falls. The hospital closed in the early 2000s, and the building has sat vacant since, with plaster and lath falling away from the brick beneath in rooms throughout the complex.