Courtyard Path Leading to the Fergus Falls Kirkbride Tower

The Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building anchors the former Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center, known in its early years as the Third Hospital for the Insane. It opened in 1895, designed by architect Warren B. Dunnell using the Kirkbride plan, a 19th-century model that arranged wards in a stepped, linear layout to give patients access to light and air. The state operated the hospital for over a century before closing the complex in 2005. Fergus Falls added a newer clinical wing to the campus in the 20th century as treatment methods shifted away from the original Kirkbride model.