MUSINGS OF A LOCAL - A Sad Chapter Letchworth Village

THIELLS, ROCKLAND COUNTY — “WE FAILED THEM” is a quote from a woman who had worked at Letchworth Village during the years when it was considered an ideal center for the mentally challenged.  Later, it became a horror story and the failures became headlines. This story is not about Letchworth and the horrors that happened there after overcrowding and neglect were exposed at Willowbrook, another State-run facility for the feeble-minded, by Geraldo Rivera in 1972.  That expose’ also shed light on Letchwood Village and the overcrowding, abuse, and mistreatment of the patients came to light.  I am not going into the history of Letchworth Village in this article, that can be found online, but will talk about some of the “patients” that were moved out of the facility in the 1950’s and into “private homes” when the State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities began their closure of the Village.

“Patients”- they were called that when relocated to private homes of families away from the facility. They were the lucky ones.   I personally know of six families that “took in” patients and received payments from the State to house them.  Most families had 4-5 patients depending on the size of their home.  Some took in men and some women, never both sexes in the same home.  Usually, the patients were housed in a separate part of the house and fed three meals a day in their own dining room.  They usually shared a bedroom with another patient and had regular duties depending on their mental abilities.  The women patients were given light chores. 

As a child growing up, my aunt had men patients who mostly sat around; sometimes one of them would have to be sent back to Letchworth because he was unmanageable or just didn’t fit in.  Some of them had light duties of raking the lawn, cleaning up the table after meals and keeping their bedrooms clean.  A friend’s grandmother had one patient named Hattie for 22 years!  She remembers that the patients had to go back to Letchworth once a year for physical checkups and sometimes did not return or returned mentally more confused than when they left because just being in that place brought back horrific memories.  If they were acting out just the warning that “I will send you back” would quiet them down.

The patients usually arrived with little more than just the clothes on their backs, toiletries and a few State-issued clothes.  Occasionally family members would send care packages to relatives but visits seldom happened.  These patients were left by family members because they were mentally deficient, emotionally unstable, poorly developed or unable to fit in with the family.  Today there are treatments for these conditions.  Once dropped off at Willowbrook or Letchworth these patients were forgotten and lived lonely lives.  These group homes did offer a bit of comfort and companionship to those lucky enough to be eligible to be in one.

As a kid who lived almost next door to one of these homes, I grew up playing with the women who lived there.  One particular patient, named Marilyn, had had polio as a child and limped but was mentally there.  She was able to play most card games with us and carry on conversations.  Another patient, Jane, had severe developmental disabilities but she loved to have us around to listen to and brighten up her day.  I remember playing ball in the back yard although there were very few hit balls and croquet was very popular.

One very interesting fact about Letchworth Village that bears noting is that it was a research facility in the beginning and helped in the fight against polio. One of the first polio vaccines was given to 20 children at Letchworth, after a Dr. George Jervis tried it on himself, and 17 developed antibodies to the polio virus and none had complications.  Of course, this would not be allowed today.

Letchworth Village was shut down inn 1996 and the patients in the family homes as well as the  patients in the facility were sent to group homes, the unlucky ones, or ended up on the streets.  There are many buildings of the campus that have been restored and used today and many that are in ruins. It is possible to walk the grounds of this place that many say is haunted by the unfortunate inhabitants.