Byberry Mental Hospital Pennsylvania

Byberry mental hospital pennsylvania. Although some dedicated caring and hard working staff at the byberry mental hospital truly cared for the patients a number of bad employees carried out abuses that remain disturbing to this day. Tragic tales of horrific living conditions and unimaginable abuse emanated from philadelphia state hospital also known as byberry in pennsylvania during much of the 20th century. Construction for a large asylum complex was in progress from 1910 to the mid 1920s which included several dormitories an infirmary kitchens laundry. See more ideas about hospital mental hospital abandoned asylums.

Mar 18 2016 explore doloresmisko s board philadelphia state hospital at byberry on pinterest. The mental asylum originally meant to help cure the mentally ill became little more than a terrifying nightmare for those who lived there. A history of misery and medicine finally a comprehensive detailed history of byberry. After a series of scandals across the state in 1938 the commonwealth took over byberry and several other city institutions and renamed them state hospitals.

Philadelphia state hospital byberry history this large complex has its humble beginnings as a small work farm for the mentally challenged in a section of philadelphia called byberry in 1906. After sixteen years of abandonment byberry was finally demolished in june 2006 when john westrum chief executive of westrum development company began tearing down the buildings that had once been philadelphia s state hospital for mental diseases. By 1914 byberry held 2 267 residents by far the largest of pennsylvania s twenty one county mental institutions and larger than seven of its eight state hospitals. The end result of my decade long obsession with psh is this 176 page chronological story of one of america s most notorious mental hospitals.

Due to the understaffing there was an extremely low ratio of orderlies to patients at the byberry mental hospital. The philadelphia state hospital at byberry. We met up with radical ed one of the first byberrians and goddog who could find his way into and out of anywhere in the berry. I carpooled down to philly with drew ember and a guy called gonzo.

It was specifically located in the somerton section of the city on the border with bucks county. The philadelphia state hospital at byberry was a psychiatric hospital located on either side of roosevelt boulevard us route 1 in northeast philadelphia pennsylvania. 56 photographs of philadelphia state hospital byberry by tom kirsch.