Amy by Fowlers Foto : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Amy by Fowlers Foto / Forsaken Fotos
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
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| 説明 | Posted: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 12:15 am By Kelcie Pegher Times Staff Writer Demolition begins at former Henryton State HospitalMARRIOTTSVILLE — The stucco building was the first that trespassers would see when they climbed up the paved road to the former Henryton State Hospital. By the end of Monday, it was mostly destroyed, as workers from Retro Environmental tore down the building in full body suits with respirators, due to asbestos and lead paint. In the last two years, Henryton State Hospital has been slated on the state’s capital budget to remove asbestos and raze the building. The schedule for the Maryland Department of General Services originally showed that the buildings were to be demolished in May 2014, according to testimony from the FY13 capital budget proposal.Recent fires and emergency calls pushed the Department of General Services to act, Assistant Secretary Bart Thomas said.The project was originally approved for about $3.05 million, though Thomas said it will cost a little over $4 million. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of September.There are 19 remaining buildings, of which five are considered small structures like garages and cottages. Last week the construction crew took out the indoor pool.Dave Muir, project manager for Retro Environmental, said four of the buildings are riddled with asbestos and will have to be taken to a landfill that is permitted to take asbestos waste.“This building is destined to Pennsylvania,” he said, pointing at building No. 1, the oldest of all the buildings on the Henryton campus.The rest of the buildings will be torn down and the crew will try to recycle as much as possible, he said.The biggest problem with demolishing the property isn’t the asbestos — it’s the remote location. Without access to public water or electricity, the construction crew must bring in water tankards and generators, he said.“As far as the demolition project goes, it’s really a piece of cake. It’s no big deal,” Muir said.Trespassers still enter the property, which has caused issues for the construction crew. Graffiti on another building marks the date a vandal was at the building, May 24, 2013.A truck which holds equipment was spray painted over the weekend with the phrase, “Get out of my house.”There is security around the clock now, and Thomas said lights have been installed on the demolition site. Thomas said he hasn’t had any phone calls from people complaining about destroying the property.“Kids are going to do what kids are going to do,” Thomas said.Exploring Henryton is practically a rite of passage for Liberty High School students, which is how Amy McGovern said she was first introduced to the former state hospital. Three years ago, her daughter found it with her friends, and took McGovern to the property. McGovern and her husband are self-described urban explorers, she said.“We go to any abandoned building legally or not legally,” she said.McGovern, of Eldersburg, said she’s been contacting the state to learn more about the history of the building since she first discovered it. McGovern is interested in the stories that were lost from the facility’s closing, which shuttered its doors in 1985.Over the years, she’s looked into the state archives in Annapolis for clues about how people lived at Henryton State Hospital.The hospital was established as a Maryland Tuberculosis Sanatorium for African-Americans in 1918. Later, it was converted to a hospital for the mentally ill. It was designed in 1962 to treat a maximum of 400 patients, according to Maryland State Archives.As public perception of mental health facilities moved toward promoting outpatient care, the facility lost patients.McGovern is documenting the demolition for a book she’s going to give to the state about the property, she said. It will have a detailed history of the property and photos throughout the years.McGovern said she’s befriended an 83-year-old neighbor to the property, who will tell her stories of what the property was like as a mental hospital.“Nobody else cared about this place,” McGovern said.Del. Susan Krebs, R–District 9B, has fought to have something happen with the property since she first came into office 10 years ago, she said. Initially, she wanted the property redeveloped. It was put on hold for a number of years, which is when the property became vandalized more frequently.At one point the Department of Natural Resources was interested in using it for its headquarters, but as the economy worsened, so did Henryton’s chances of being redeveloped.“That’s why it’s taken quite a period of time,” she said. “After a while it just becomes so unsafe you have to do something.”Brett Pearce, the deputy chief of the Sykesville fire company, said after a fire in March that in the last 10 years there have been more than 70 calls to the property for anything from fires to assaults and drug overdoses.The property will be reincorporated to the Patapsco Valley State Park, which surrounds it, Thomas said. Grass will be planted over where the current buildings rest, and it will become a part of nature again. |
| 撮影日 | 2013-06-24 18:28:49 |
| 撮影者 | Forsaken Fotos |
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