Pineland Center, Pownal, Maine -- by Joe Hayes
Pineland Center
New Gloucester, Maine
When was this "asylum" opened, and what did it look like? Did it follow Kirkbride's design?
The Pineland Center opened in 1908 under the name: “Maine School for the Feebleminded” and closed in 1996. It did have many features of Kirkbride’s design, particularly that it was established in a very rural part of the state where patients were very removed from the general population. The Pineland Center was designed to be self-sufficient in many ways.
What was this institution's original intent?
The intent was to house and care for society’s disabled population, although this incorporated a wide variety of people with disabilities including intellectual disabilities and mental illness. The intent was to provide care to this group of people while providing purpose and education as everyone lived and worked there, including farming which was a big part of the Pineland Center. This working farm was designed to be profitable while also being therapeutic work for the residents there.
Who were the patients there? Do narratives of their experiences exist?
I have a copy of the book “Pineland’s Past: The First One Hundred Years” by Richard S. Kimball which is a great book that accounts for a large amount of patient narratives from their time there. Since Pineland did not close until 1996, there are people still alive today that had involvement with Pineland in one way or another while it was open.
What was the patients' experience like in that institution, and did that change over the course of the institution's history?
Patients were subject to practices of restraint if they were not compliant and sterilization was even used in many cases. Discipline was used to maintain order and safety. As policy around services for people with disabilities changed, so did the practices at Pineland (which also eventually led to its closure).
Did the institution, its services, and patients change over time?
Yes, services did evolve during the years that Pineland was open. Pineland went through several population spikes and declines over time. There were many years where staff were reportedly working under poor conditions for very low pay. Staffing ratios were very thin. The thinner the ratio, the worse the conditions for patients became.
How many people lived, worked, and died there?
Peak residency was in the 1930’s with an estimated 1,500 patients living there. (Wikipedia, 2018)
Were bad conditions ever exposed to the public? How?
Pineland was one of many places across the country where sterilization was practiced so that patients could not have children. This was not done to everyone, but it was an accepted practice for a period time at Pineland. Local papers published stories about the practices of Pineland along the way.
Would you have wanted "treatment" in this institution?
I would not have wanted to receive treatment at Pineland. While there were some positives, I still feel that there is a clear reason why institutionalization has ceased and re-integration into communities became the norm.
References:
Maine Historical Society
Kimball, R. S. (2001). Pineland’s Past: The First One Hundred Years. Portsmouth, NH; Peter E. Randall Publisher.
Great synopsis Joe. I like your synopsis of the Kirkbride design as being established in rural areas of the state. As I consider VT's institutions both for those with mental illness as well as "mental retardation," all of these settings were located in magnificent grounds and self-contained. There were stores, garden centers, and treatment centers right on the grounds. When I worked at the former Laconia State School, that was located by a lake. The institution buildings as I recall are all alike (to this day) - brick institutional buildings with large rooms meant to house many in each area.
ReplyDelete