New York, Staten Island, Willowbrook Mile Historical Markers
This is a walking trail on and near the campus of the City University of New York's College of Staten Island regarding the Willowbrook State School, the site of a state facility for New Yorkers living with developmental disabilities. It shares an important piece history of the development of contemporary medical ethics.
We know today how important nurturing and stimulation in the first years of children's lives are to their development. But in the 1960s, when the Baby Unit complex was built, the medical community routinely recommended institutionalization for . . . — — Map (db m207463) HM
In the mid-1990s, the College of Staten Island installed a plaque on its 3S Building to honor its identity as "Building 19" of Willowbrook State School. This massive institution on over 380 acres required a system of steam tunnels that connected . . . — — Map (db m207466) HM
Building 29 remains as it was in the 1980s as part of the Willowbrook State School. In its original state, it reflects the extremely difficult conditions in which residents lived. It had originally housed individuals with significant disabilities. . . . — — Map (db m207461) HM
As the first woman from Staten Island elected to public office, Elizabeth Connelly served as Assemblywoman from 1973 to 2000. Connelly was a key advocate for the rights of people with developmental disabilities and the force behind the creation of a . . . — — Map (db m207462) HM
The 1975 Consent Judgement ordered that Willowbrook residents must receive adequate clinical and educational services. This set in motion the eventual closure of Willowbrook in 1987 and began the development of community-based services. It mandated . . . — — Map (db m207468) HM
Willowbrook State School, the largest facility in the world for people diagnosed with "mental retardation," had been criticized for years. In 1965, Senator Robert F. Kennedy visited and called for an investigation, but no action was taken. In 1971, . . . — — Map (db m207471) HM
In 1962, to address Willowbrook overcrowding, the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene began quietly transferring about 200 children and infants with severe disabilities to the condemned former Gouverneur Hospital in Manhattan's lower East . . . — — Map (db m207472) HM
In 1938, New York State authorized the building of a school for "mental defectives." The Willowbrook site was selected and buildings erected. When the U.S. entered World War II in the 1940s, New York State turned over the site to the U.S. Army for . . . — — Map (db m207467) HM
New York State's Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities (IBR) opened in 1968 as the first large-scale institute in the world to conduct basic and clinical research into the causes of developmental disabilities. IBR develops . . . — — Map (db m207460) HM
In 1993, the College of Staten Island/CUNY (CSI) moved onto 204 acres of the former Willowbrook State School site. A comprehensive college in The City University system, CSI offers programs from pre-college through the doctoral level, including . . . — — Map (db m207470) HM
The College of Staten Island's Archives and Special Collections located on the second floor of the College's Library (1L), opened in 2000. The research collection acquires and preserves materials documenting the history of the Willowbrook site . . . — — Map (db m207465) HM
In the Willowbrook Hepatitis Study (1956-1971), NYU medical researchers intentionally infected about 700 residents ages five to ten with hepatitis to study the viral disease. They justified this with claims that hepatitis infections were already . . . — — Map (db m207473) HM
