Octagonal Tower of the Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building

The Kirkbride Building at the former Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center was designed by architect Warren B. Dunnell and completed in 1890 as the Fergus Falls State Hospital. Its patterned brickwork and corner tower reflect the High Victorian Gothic style Dunnell favored for the state's asylum architecture. The building follows the Kirkbride Plan, a 19th-century model developed by psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride that arranged wards in staggered wings to give patients access to light and air. Fergus Falls' facility operated as a mental health hospital for most of the 20th century before closing in the 1990s. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.