Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park

Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park. Crownsville Closes, A New Chapter Begins (1980s-present). In 2004, with just 200 patients left, the State closed Crownsville Hospital, leaving the future of the vast campus and its conflicting legacies in limbo. The campus, which is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, stood largely abandoned, but not forgotten. In 2022, Anne Arundel County acquired the property establishing the Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park.

In the final decades of the 20th century, Crownsville Hospital's patient population declined while investment in the facility dwindled. Mental health care was shifting to community-based services, and with advances in medical and pharmaceutical treatments, closure was inevitable.

Ironically, 93 years after the first 12 patients were transferred from Spring Grove begin building the campus, many remaining patients were transferred in 2004 to Spring Grove Hospital Center in Baltimore. Others were unceremoniously released into the community, with little if any follow-up care.

After the hospital's closure, a few buildings continued to be used by State agencies, community groups, and nonprofits, but most of the camps fell into disrepair. Recently, when proposals for private redevelopment on this unique and substantial tract of green open space in the heart of Anne Arundel County came forward, the community countered with serious concerns and lobbied for its preservation.

These voices were heard, and on December 12 2022, the Hospital property was transferred to Anne Arundel County.

Plans are underway to re-envision and renew the space as a site of healing and remembrance, where people can access much-needed resources and enjoy its natural beauty.

In 2005, the first "Say My Name" Ceremony - now an annual event - honored 1,727 patients buried at Crownsville State Hospital. It is just one of several ongoing efforts - including the tireless work to preserve and memorialize the site by the Friends of the Crownsville Hospital Patient Cemetery, the recent publication of Antonia Hylton's book Madness, and an Anne Arundel County oral history project documenting the experiences of those who lived and worked there - that aim to deepen understanding of this institution's role in history.

Please respect all no trespassing signs.
The campus is not open for public access due to safety concerns.

(Captions):

With much of the campus unoccupied for decades, abandoned buildings at Crownsville Hospital were vandalized and neglected.

Left to right: Former Chief Administrative Officer Matt Power, County Executive Steuart Pittman, Deputy CAO Hannah Dier, Janice Hayes-Williams, and Budget Officer Chris Trumbauer at the historic transfer of the Crownsville property to Anne Arundel County from the State of Maryland.

Many of the patients in the Crownsville Hospital Cemetery are only marked with numbers, not names.

The "Say My Name" Ceremony underscores Crownsville's complex legacy as a place of healing and harm that continues to evoke curiosity, fear, and reflection.