My Trip to Willowbrook State School
I woke up early on April 27, 2013 knowing that it was going to be a long journey to get to the campus of the College of Staten Island (CSI) otherwise known as the former location of the Willowbrook State School, an institution that housed about 6,000 individuals who were subjected to extreme neglect. The train I wanted to take came after 6 am from the Metro North Station in White Plains (City in Westchester County, NY) where I lived and would give me time to arrive for 10 am, our usual class time. My commute required me to take the train from Grand Central Terminal in NYC to the shuttle from Grand Central (which is on the east side) to the west side in order to catch the subway (I believe I took the 2 that day) to Bowling Green Station. At the Bowling Green Station, I would have to catch the Staten Island Ferry in order to get a bus to the campus. I was glad I took the remainder of the day off from work because I was going to be tired by the conclusion of the day. As we had discussed in class, many parents/loved ones of individuals at Willowbrook migrated from the borough of Brooklyn and the travel time required to get to the facility hindered a large number of visitors. By experiencing a commute from WestchesterCounty to WSS, I can understand why this was a problem and it also made me understand why the selection of the grounds in Staten Island was not an ideal location.
When I arrived on campus, it was hard to identify that a large institution had existed here. There was an array of students at the bus stop waiting for the campus shuttle. One of the students saw I looked confused and offered to show me which bus/stop to take to get to the main library to meet for class. Out of curiosity on the ride to the library, I asked her if she knew the history of the campus and she replied that “it was an institution for disabled people” but did not make any further comments. When we arrived about ten minutes later to the drop off point, I saw the library straight ahead but was still in search for the dilapidated buildings I thought would be on the grounds. After looking around briefly, I entered the library and saw no one was there. I waited a few minutes and saw a clerk behind the desk that directed me to the second floor for the archives library. Due to being early, I sat by one of the computers and waited for the class to arrive.
Outside of the archives, I noticed several display items that caught my eye. In the windows were hand made cards that had St. Patrick’s Day decorations on them. When I looked into the archives room, I saw a wheelchair and rocking horse that came from WSS. Later I would have a good laugh with one of the individuals I worked with who was a wheelchair user and how uncomfortable that chair must have been during the time. It was later discussed that the rocking horse was made of metal because it was designed to last rather than to be a comforting toy for the children. The items were well preserved and below are pictures I took of them.
As 10 am approached, some of the class had arrived and the lead archivist, Dr. James Kaser, let us into the room. The room was set up with presentation materials on display which would begin our tour. Dr. James Kaser started by discussing how the conception of the archives began with Dr. Goode wanting to preserve the history of what occurred on the now campus of CSI. On the walls, Dr. Kaser directed us to view the topography maps he had of the buildings that comprised WSS. There was a display on HalloranHospital, which was established in the 1940s to house war veterans on the campus of WSS. Dr. Kaser was also happy to have the original film reel of the news clip that broke the first story of WSS by Geraldo Rivera. Another interesting piece that he had was the record of how many times and references WSS was mentioned in the media by someone who donated it to him. Before we wrapped up this part of the tour in the library, Ronnie Cohen, who is an activist in establishing the Willowbrook Decree, joined our tour and thanked us for coming. I was enjoying the tour thus far and was interested in seeing the display downstairs that OPWDD had developed.
We all walked downstairs to the WSS exhibit developed by OPWDD and it was less than impressive for me. The images that the agency had gathered were very telling of the anguish and abuse that the residents encountered but the overall display was very small. Many of us could not fit in one area at a time and had to rotate going from section to section. In the middle of the display is a case with books about WSS as in The Willowbrook Wars by: Sheila M. Rothman and David J. Rothman which documents the history of WSS. Once everyone was finished, we made our way to the grounds outside.
Thankfully, the day we did our tour was perfect spring weather with the sun shining and clear skies which made taking pictures easier. We started our walking tour of the grounds by going to the memorial that Dr. Goode had placed on the campus with funds he had received. Unfortunately, it is not accessible because it has an unsteady platform around it and to access the site, you have to make your way through about a little less than a half mile of grass. The figure has no protection around it and the grey engraved stone appears to be losing its inscription due to the natural elements. Dr. Goode discussed with us how this has made him feel and what he plans to do in order to rectify the situation.
As the class looked around, Dr. Goode pointed out the vacant spots on the campus where the administration building was prior to being torn down. According to Dr. Goode, the administration building was the first to be demolished when WSS was shut down in the late 1980s. The remainder of the buildings were converted into housing for students, classrooms and a section of them are owned by OPWDD which has them divided by a gate from the college campus.
We concluded our tour in one of the classroom buildings which had an interesting smell of cleaning products. The cleaning products that the class smelled attempted to erase that penetrating odor from the time of WSS of urine and fecal matter but the smell still remained. The hallways were barren and it did not appear that the college did a good job in trying to make over the facility as Dr. Goode discussed. He has been advocating for art work to be added to make the school appear more welcoming.
Once the tour was completed, Dr. Goode said we had the freedom to roam the campus for more clues to WSS but most students left once the class was over. I went to one of the gated buildings through a hole in the fence with three other classmates and we saw that the vacant buildings were housing lawn care supplies for the college. I really wanted to see the cartoons on the wall that are in the documentary, “The Last Disgrace” directed by Geraldo Rivera in 1972 but I was informed that many of them had been painted over. As one of my classmates drove us back to the ferry to go home, we passed by many of the screened in porches where residents played. It appeared that these facilities were being used for trainings. In the background it was scary to see a large, dark and menacing building which sat elevated yet apart from the college’s campus. I found out that it was the Institutional Review Board (IRB) building where many of the people I work with go for psychological evaluations. When we exited the campus, one of my classmates and residents of Staten Island, stated that the committee she sits on, is continuously fighting for developers not to obtain any more land to build housing on the former property of WSS to preserve its memory. Hearing that statement and reflecting on my experiences from the day, I was overwhelmed with emotion of being able to participate on a historic trip such as this one.
(All images on this page were captured by Allison Downer during the visit)
Check Out On 
At YAI’s 31st annual conference, a major fundraiser for the agency to create awareness about disability and invite others to present on various topics, Geraldo Rivera was the keynote speaker on 04/26/2010. I was fortunate enough to be in the audience. Below are the short videos of the speech in three parts.
