Future uncertain for former Upstate NY insane asylum, once biggest in the US (photos)

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Part of the tour included Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Several of the buildings are structurally unsafe and are fenced off. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The Morgue built in 1870 and held nearly 6,000 patients before they were buried at the Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Part of the tour included Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Part of the tour included Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Part of the tour included Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Part of the tour included Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Part of the tour included Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Part of the tour included Willard Cemetery. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Elliot Hall was built in 1931 and was used as the admitting and hospital building and named after Dr. Robert Elliot, the longest running term superintendent of the hospital. It was used for surgeries and treatment of patients into the early 80's. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Elliot Hall was built in 1931 and was used as the admitting and hospital building and named after Dr. Robert Elliot, the longest running term superintendent of the hospital. It was used for surgeries and treatment of patients into the early 80's. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Elliot Hall was built in 1931 and was used as the admitting and hospital building and named after Dr. Robert Elliot, the longest running term superintendent of the hospital. It was used for surgeries and treatment of patients into the early 80's. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Elliot Hall was built in 1931 and was used as the admitting and hospital building and named after Dr. Robert Elliot, the longest running term superintendent of the hospital. It was used for surgeries and treatment of patients into the early 80's. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Elliot Hall was built in 1931 and was used as the admitting and hospital building and named after Dr. Robert Elliot, the longest running term superintendent of the hospital. It was used for surgeries and treatment of patients into the early 80's. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

Elliot Hall was built in 1931 and was used as the admitting and hospital building and named after Dr. Robert Elliot, the longest running term superintendent of the hospital. It was used for surgeries and treatment of patients into the early 80's. A tour of the former Willard Asylum in Seneca County was held on Saturday May 16th 2015. Stephen D. Cannerelli | syracuse.com

The grounds of Willard State Hospital, once the home of the largest mental institution in Upstate New York, once again lay abandoned as its last occupant, DOCCS’ Willard Drug Treatment Campus, has vacated.

As FingerLakes1 reports, it’s lights out at the historic campus in Ovid. The property is one of six prisons and 27 correctional facilities across the state that closed.

Willard, a medium-security facility, most recently had a staff of 329 people overseeing 168 incarcerated individuals.

The site of the prison has a storied past, first opening in 1860 as the first Agricultural College of New York before it moved to Ithaca. That college is now known as Cornell University.

In 1869, the grounds transformed into the Willard Asylum for the Chronically Insane. Its residents were people brought in from poorhouses and other county facilities where they were often kept chained up or in cages.

In contrast to the conditions they were used to, Willard provided an environment for its patients that encouraged work and self-care. The idea was that patients could be treated and trained so that they could rejoin society.

By 1877, it had more than 1,500 patients, making it the largest asylum in the United States. By 1890 the name changed to Willard State Hospital which hit its peak in 1955 with more than 4,000 patients.

Willard State Hospital closed in 1995 and its remaining patients moved to other facilities.

After the hospital closed, an employee found 400 suitcases in the attic of the asylum, dating from 1910 to 1960. Their contents along with institutional records and doctors’ notes from patient sessions inspired the book “The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic,” by Darby Penney, Peter Stastny, and Lisa Rinzler. The trio was able to reconstruct the lives of ten patients who resided at Willard during the first half of the twentieth century.

In recent years, the Romulus Historical Society would offer tours of the grounds as fundraisers. Tours would sometimes draw thousands of visitors and would vary by year depending on which buildings the prison was currently inhabiting.

One final tour of Willard State Hospital was given on Sept. 9 by the Friends of the Three Bears, a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration of the three buildings in the Seneca County Courthouse Complex.

In a Facebook post, the group noted that the Romulus Historical Society will be working on a list of officials to contact to save the property for the public.

Its location along the east side of Seneca Lake and access to the Erie Canal have put it on the map for the Canal Society of New York State. They have also posted to Facebook about what the future could hold for Willard State Hospital and its inclusion in their discussion of “Taking A Deep Dive into the Future of Seneca Lake’s Past” at the New York State Canal Conference in Rochester this fall.

Recently, the Preservation League of NYS included Willard State Hospital on its “Seven to Save” list of the most endangered historical sites in the state.

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