Open Cabinets in the Staff Kitchen at Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building

The Kirkbride Building at the former Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center opened in 1890, designed under the Kirkbride Plan that shaped asylum architecture across the United States in the 19th century. Staff kitchens like this one supplied meals for patients housed in the building's wards, part of a campus that once operated largely as a self-sufficient community with its own laundry, farm, and power plant. The facility operated under various names, including the Fergus Falls State Hospital, until state mental health services here wound down in the late 20th century. Much of the campus has sat vacant since, with preservation groups pushing for reuse of the Kirkbride structure rather than demolition.