In 1922 the Belchertown State School was inaugurated; it is located in Belchertown, Massachusetts. It was the only facility in Massachusetts for disabled children. This school was infamous for inhumane behavior towards the poor children and poor ill-treatment of its patients. As the old building has a long history, it occurred on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The background of the Belchertown State School

The Belchertown State School covers an area of 876 acres and contains 10 major buildings. The whole construction was built in Colonial Revival style under the supervision of Kendall, Taylor, and co. the main purpose to build this facility was to give the mentally disabled children a proper education, which they didn’t get in any general school. Later this facility is also used for mentally ill patients.

The first 40 years of the school were mostly operated by outside sources. One of the fathers of a student of this school reported that the condition in school towards their child was ‘horrific’ and ‘medieval’. Doctors who attend the patients had no sympathy for their patients’ mental condition.

As the school was overcrowded with mentally ill patients along with disabled children the attendants had to do overwork.The condition of the patients was so bad that there the patients were left half nacked rolling in their excrement. The attendants took the healthy teeth of the patients to feed them faster. The physically handicapped patients were left in bed for the entire day without any treatment. As a consequence of the insane mistreatment, some of the patients were moaning in the hallways, repeatedly banging their heads against walls.

Belchertown State School closure and Redevelopment

Due to the civil rights movements by African Americans and the increase of human rights for disabled persons in 1966, Massachusetts passed the Mental Health and Retardation Services Act. This Act made it mandatory for some of the institutions to act as a more community-based system of care facilities.In 1971 the insane condition of Belchertown was revealed in a newspaper report. And after publishing the news parents sued the school. Then they filed a lawsuit against the institution; this was the first lawsuit against an institution. Later in 1973 when a patient died unnecessarily, another lawsuit was filed against the institution. After suffering from some more lawsuits, the facility was finally closed in 1992.

Current Situation of Belchertown State School

Belchertown State School was abandoned until 1992, but within these years several companies tried for the redevelopment of this facility. In 2008 this old facility was the main focus of 30 graduate students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dozens of buildings are beyond any restorations but the main structure still has a chance to be restored. These students are mainly working for the improvement of this old ruin and expected help from the community to restore this old facility. However, nothing happened in reality and it was still isolated. The buildings are overgrown and severely damaged by the effects of elements.