Fairfield State Hospital
Encyclopedia
Fairfield State Hospital (also known as Fairfield Hills State Hospital or Fairfield Hills) was a psychiatric hospital
in Newtown, Connecticut
, which operated from 1931 until 1995. At its peak the hospital housed over 4,000 patients. The entire facility was owned and operated by the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health. The facility is just southeast of the center of Newtown 41.40°N 73.29°W
The hospital contained 16 buildings on 100 acre (0.404686 km²), plus another 670 acres (2.7 km²) of land around them. The acreage consisted of large farm meadows and a forest. A circular network of roads connected the buildings.
The hospital opened and received its first patients on June 1, 1933 from Connecticut Valley Hospital. There were initially less than 500 patients, and only 3 doctors. By the late 1960s Fairfield Hills housed more than 4,000 patients, 20 doctors, 50 nurses, and 100 assorted other employees.
On December 8, 1995 the facility was closed and patients were transferred to the Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, Connecticut. The records from Fairfield Hills Hospital are located in RG 021, subgroup 7 at the Connecticut State Library & Archives
in restricted files arranged into three series:
closed Fairfield Hills and its sister hospital, Norwich State Hospital. All patients that remained were moved to Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown
.
The Town of Newtown rented out the first floor of Canaan House from the mid-1990s up until 2005; it was home to the town's Board of Education, Planning & Zoning, and Fire Marshall. The Reed Intermediate School is also located on the property.
, use of the drugs metrazol and insulin
in shock therapy, patient seclusion, electric shock therapy, treatment of alcoholism
, and frontal lobotomy. In the first year that psychosurgery
was performed at Fairfield Hills over 100 patients were treated.
The Town of Newtown selected Bridgeport Hall as the location for its new municipal offices. It was dedicated on November 21, 2009, and is now called the Newtown Municipal Center.
used the hospital as a setting. Actors on location included Robert De Niro
, Brad Pitt
and Kevin Bacon
. Several scenes used local boys as extras
. The film adaptation of The Madman's Tale
was to be filmed between October 26, 2007 and January 8, 2008. Due to complications with the cast, production was stopped before anything was filmed on location. An episode of MTV's Fear
was shot at the hospital, its identity concealed from the participants. A local newspaper characterized the site as an "attractive nuisance" and suggested that negative impressions about the site created by films and TV series were "misguided".
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
in Newtown, Connecticut
Newtown, Connecticut
Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 27,560 at the 2010 census. Newtown was founded in 1705 and incorporated in 1711.-Government:...
, which operated from 1931 until 1995. At its peak the hospital housed over 4,000 patients. The entire facility was owned and operated by the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health. The facility is just southeast of the center of Newtown 41.40°N 73.29°W
History
Fairfield State Hospital was created due to overcrowding at the other two state hospitals. Walter P. Crabtree, Sr. designed the campus-like facility. Dedicated to a common development theme, the institutional buildings were of a modified colonial style, built of red brick and attractively accented. On June 10, 1931, the cornerstone was laid for the Fairfield State Hospital (renamed to Fairfield Hills Hospital in 1963 per P.A. 278. The campus was constructed largely fireproof throughout. Some later constructed buildings were built during the 1940s and 1950s.The hospital contained 16 buildings on 100 acre (0.404686 km²), plus another 670 acres (2.7 km²) of land around them. The acreage consisted of large farm meadows and a forest. A circular network of roads connected the buildings.
The hospital opened and received its first patients on June 1, 1933 from Connecticut Valley Hospital. There were initially less than 500 patients, and only 3 doctors. By the late 1960s Fairfield Hills housed more than 4,000 patients, 20 doctors, 50 nurses, and 100 assorted other employees.
On December 8, 1995 the facility was closed and patients were transferred to the Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, Connecticut. The records from Fairfield Hills Hospital are located in RG 021, subgroup 7 at the Connecticut State Library & Archives
Connecticut State Library
The Connecticut State Library is the state library for the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is also an executive branch agency of the state. It is located in Hartford, Connecticut....
in restricted files arranged into three series:
- Patients, 1933-1995 admission and discharge records;
- Personnel, 1934-1943 records of separation; and
- Medical Staff Records, 1937-1974 records of birth and deportation, autopsies, and medical examiner cases.
Closure
Due to deinstitutionalization in the 1960s and 1970s, there was less of a need for hospitals like Fairfield Hills. With the high cost of running underused hospitals, state hospitals around the country shut their doors. In 1995, Gov. John RowlandJohn G. Rowland
John Grosvenor Rowland was the 86th Governor of Connecticut from 1995 to 2004; he is a member of the Republican Party. He is married to Patty Rowland, his second wife, and the couple have five children between them...
closed Fairfield Hills and its sister hospital, Norwich State Hospital. All patients that remained were moved to Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...
.
The Town of Newtown rented out the first floor of Canaan House from the mid-1990s up until 2005; it was home to the town's Board of Education, Planning & Zoning, and Fire Marshall. The Reed Intermediate School is also located on the property.
Therapy and treatment
During its operation, treatments at Fairfield Hills included hydrotherapyHydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy, involves the use of water for pain-relief and treating illness. The term hydrotherapy itself is synonymous with the term water cure as it was originally marketed by practitioners and promoters in the 19th century...
, use of the drugs metrazol and insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
in shock therapy, patient seclusion, electric shock therapy, treatment of alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, and frontal lobotomy. In the first year that psychosurgery
Psychosurgery
Psychosurgery, also called neurosurgery for mental disorder , is the neurosurgical treatment of mental disorder. Psychosurgery has always been a controversial medical field. The modern history of psychosurgery begins in the 1880s under the Swiss psychiatrist Gottlieb Burckhardt...
was performed at Fairfield Hills over 100 patients were treated.
Tunnels
All of the patient buildings were connected by a series of tunnels. These tunnels were mostly used to move large groups of patients between the buildings, especially during the winter months and on bad weather days. Doctors, workers also used the tunnels, and even corpses were also moved between hospital buildings by them. The tunnels were filled in by the town of Newtown in 2009.Buildings
The following are the main campus buildings of Fairfield Hills. They were named after Fairfield County cities and towns.Administration buildings
- Newtown Hall – administration building
- Bridgeport Hall – central food services
- Greenwich House – offices and medical hospital
- Shelton House – administration and patient care
- Plymouth Hall – chapel, theater, gymnasium and workshops
- Power Plant – electricity and steam heat for buildings
- Stratford Hall – library
- Yale Laboratory – laboratory and morgue
Employee buildings
- Danbury Hall – employee housing
- Norwalk Hall – employee dormitory
- Stamford Hall – employee dormitory
- Watertown Hall – employee apartments
- Woodbury Hall – employee dormitory
- Washington Square – doctor residences
- plus several single family homes
Patient Treatment and Housing
- Bridgewater House
- Canaan House
- Cochran House
- Fairfield House
- Kent House
- Litchfield House
Current status
The Town of Newtown acquired the former Fairfield Hills Hospital property from the State of Connecticut in 2004. The Town of Newtown established the Fairfield Hills Authority, a municipal development agency, to implement new construction on the site. This calls for reserving a major portion of the property for municipal and cultural use, as well as passive and active recreational use. Also, a new building has been built on the site called the Newtown Youth Academy. It was paid for by private funders and features an indoor turf field, basketball court, and full workout center.The Town of Newtown selected Bridgeport Hall as the location for its new municipal offices. It was dedicated on November 21, 2009, and is now called the Newtown Municipal Center.
In popular culture
Several film and television productions have used the facility as a set. The film Man to Man was shot in Kent House in the late 1950s. The feature film SleepersSleepers (film)
Sleepers is a 1996 legal drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 novel of the same name.-Plot:...
used the hospital as a setting. Actors on location included Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
and Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
. Several scenes used local boys as extras
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
. The film adaptation of The Madman's Tale
The Madman's Tale
The Madman's Tale is a novel written by John Katzenbach. It was published and released in 2004.-Plot summary:Francis Petrel, recently released from an asylum faces his own inner demons as he recounts his memories of a murderer in the asylum during his time there...
was to be filmed between October 26, 2007 and January 8, 2008. Due to complications with the cast, production was stopped before anything was filmed on location. An episode of MTV's Fear
MTV's Fear
MTV's Fear is an American paranormal reality television series that originally aired from 2000 to 2002 on MTV. The program follows a group of 5 or more contestants being left at an allegedly haunted location and led them on a series of dares over two nights to explore and confirm whether or not the...
was shot at the hospital, its identity concealed from the participants. A local newspaper characterized the site as an "attractive nuisance" and suggested that negative impressions about the site created by films and TV series were "misguided".