The area in Hastings that is now the Youth Treatment Facility has more than 133 years of history, as decades ago it was a mental illness facility. The only thing left from that time is a cemetery.

The cemetery is a link to the 630-acre mental institution that was there. That institution had many names throughout the years. In 1889, it was the "Hospital for the Incurable Insane." In 1895, the name was changed to "Asylum for the Chronic Insane." In 1905, the name of the institution was the "Nebraska State Hospital." It then changed to "Ingleside Hospital for the Insane" in 1915. In 1921, it was called "Hastings State Hospital." Then lastly in 1971, it was called "Hastings Regional Center."

The institution also had a farm complex. According to Historian and board member of the Adams County Historical Society Walter Miller, the mentally ill patients would work on the fields, picking up the crops. They would milk the cows twice a day. They would also prepare the food for the facility.

Over 1,400 former residents of the Hastings Regional Center now rest at the Ingleside Cemetery, a space located west of the current Youth Treatment facility. The first person was buried in 1895, and last one in 1959.

“The stones are all flush with the ground and they are simply numbers, they do not have names connected with them," Miller said.

When at the cemetery, that's all people will be able to see "numbers" on the gravestones. Thanks to a lawsuit, under the guidance of San Francisco attorney Tom Burke, the Adams County Historical Society now has all the names of all the former patients buried at the cemetery. Those who want to know who is buried under what gravestone number can visit the Historical Society at the Hastings Museum.

“Before then, in many cases, you had to have a court order, even if you were a family member, to actually go out to the cemetery and go to the gravestone,” Miller said.

At the cemetery, there's also a memorial garden. Miller said now more than ever before people are visiting the cemetery. It is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“One of the things that has happened recently is that, it wasn't necessarily vandalism, but certainly somebody is driving vehicles across the cemetery," Miller said.

In recent weeks, a two-track road appeared at the cemetery damaging some grass and gravestones. Also tracks from a tractor were tearing up the grass. But, this is not an issue for the city of Hastings or the Youth Treatment facility to fix.

“How they maintain the grass and the ground is up to the state," Miller said.

A state spokesperson said they will work on the damaged areas and will have personnel informing visitors to keep their vehicles away from the graves.

The place is full of history. Miller said the mental illness institution was self sufficient, as they had a coal-fire power plant which created steam and all the electricity needed to run the place.

In 1963, former President John F. Kennedy and the federal government decided to close asylums across the country and focus the facilities on community programs.

"After the Ingleside patients left, they used the buildings for drug rehabilitation, alcohol recovery and youth centers, but those would die eventually as well," Miller said. "Most of those former patients went out to the street, to the jails."

The original buildings (which are non-existent now) had been there for 40 years. Some had been there for 100 years, according to the historian.

"It was more costly to rehabilitate, or renew those buildings than to make new ones," Miller said.

Miller's expertise is on the U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot. He wrote a book about it. He recently made a presentation talking about the history of the Ingleside facilities and cemetery.