From the archives: Long Island Psychiatric Museum unveiled

This article was originally published in Newsday on Nov. 26, 2002

The three mental health hospitals that in their heyday were major institutions on Long Island are mostly history now, but with the opening of a West Brentwood museum exhibiting artifacts from them, the public can get a glimpse into their past.

Located on the second floor of Building 45 at Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital, the Long Island Psychiatric Museum at Pilgrim debuted Thursday in a ceremony attended by mental health officials. The highlight of the event was the unveiling of a directors' wall by a handful of former bosses from the trio of hospitals: Pilgrim State, Central Islip Psychiatric Hospital and Kings Park Psychiatric Center.

The exhibits include photos of patients and hospital workers, artwork and furniture created by patients, and a centerpiece diorama of the Pilgrim campus created in 1934 by New York University students.

Peggy O'Neill, the executive director of Pilgrim from 1979-1993, said her first return in almost a decade to the hospital, and the former patient building where the museum is housed, filled her with mixed emotions. She noted how many of the faces in photos on the walls and in the nurses' yearbooks came to life in her memory. "This is historical but sad, because of all the lives wasted because we didn't have the tools we have now to care for the mentally ill."

The oldest of the three hospitals, Central Islip Psychiatric Hospital, closed in 1996, more than 100 years after it opened in 1889 as part of the New York City Farm Colony. Most of its massive campus was bought by the adjacent New York Institute of Technology and subsequently redeveloped with housing, a recreational facility and a court complex.

Since it closed in 1996, the former Kings Park State Hospital has been at the center of a heated debate about what to do with the 594-acre state-owned parcel overlooking Long Island Sound and bordering the Nissequogue River. The property could end up on the auction block.

Pilgrim State is the only one of the three that remains open as a mental hospital, housing about 1,200 patients in a small part of its original campus. In January, Long Island developer Gerald Wolkoff purchased 460 acres of the 500-acre campus from the state for $20.1 million. He has yet to formally submit redevelopment plans to the town.

Alan Weinstock, who is now director of Pilgrim and who during a 32-year career has overseen all three hospitals, said he came up with the idea for a museum while serving as deputy commissioner of the Office of Mental Health in Albany. "It just struck me we had all this history we couldn't afford to lose," he said.

The hospitals were an integral part of Long Island, Weinstock said, before unveiling the wall of directors, whose names are etched on brass plates affixed to an oak plaque. The exhibits made him "feel nostalgic," Weinstock said, adding, "It makes me feel good that the public now has the opportunity to share this history."