Open Doors Along Room 306 at Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building

The Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building was completed in 1890 as the main structure of the Fergus Falls State Hospital, designed under the Kirkbride Plan that shaped American asylum architecture in the 19th century. Architect Warren B. Dunnell laid out the building's staggered wings to give patient wards maximum access to light and air, a principle central to Dr. Thomas Kirkbride's treatment philosophy. The hospital operated until 1999, and its patient rooms, including numbered units like Room 306, once housed under the state's care for mental illness. Hexagonal ceramic tile, a common finish in institutional buildings of the era, still covers many of the building's corridor and room floors. The property was later transferred to local ownership as part of the Kirkbride Estates redevelopment project, though much of the original structure remains unrestored.

Taken June 2014