Despite Edgewood State Hospital, the least known
of Long Island’s Farm Colonies, being constructed last,
it is the only one that is completely demolished.

Or is it?

Though this report on the remains of Deer Park’s Edgewood State Hospital rounds out my goal to explore all of the ruins of the abandoned Farm Colony Asylum complexes of Long Island, there is much more to uncover– at Kings Park, Central Islip, Pilgrim State, and here at Edgewood. In fact, I fell in a tremendous hole of research after exploring this wonderfully comprehensive archive of Edgewood’s history, including lots of pictures, tales of wild exploration in the 1980’s, and some intel on accessing the tunnel system–rumored to still be accessible within the grounds of the now Edgewood Oak Brush Plains Preserve.

Though the reckless days of the 80’s are long gone, giving way to the limitations of far more litigious times, the allure of these spaces prevail against many an obstacle–sustaining as monument to all that which time and societal shifts would attempt to have us forget. This contrast of time, its physical manifestation, is empirical within the powerful decay. And that is what it’s all about really. For me at least. A romantic quest of discovering what endures in spite of itself–and capturing it in photographs.

Now some history: Construction of Edgewood State Hospital began in 1938, with help from the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA), part of Roosevelt’s New Deal enacted during the Great Depression. Then came World War II. With wartimes shortages, construction was halted and the building was taken over by the United States Army, becoming a psychiatric hospital for servicepeople struggling to transition home from the war. Under the U.S. Army Medical Corp’s ownership, some more structures were built for a total of nine. In 1946, after the war, the control of the hospital was returned to New York State and it became the tuberculosis unit for its nearby neighbor Pilgrim State Hospital, offering infected psychiatric patients isolation from Pilgrim’s more bustling campus.

Like all of Long Island’s Farm Colonies, deinstitutionalization and the advent psychotropic drugs would end Edgewood’s run in 1971. From that point onward the site was battered by arson, vandals, scrappers, the homeless, and hedonists, documented well on EdgewoodHospital.com comment strands. Its demolition in 1988 would crumble most of the campus including the impressive towering facade of Building 102–once the tallest structure on Long Island. Documented on YouTube (below), many local residents were pleased with its demise.

But Edgewood lives on within the Edgewood Oak Brush Plains Preserve, an 813 acres refuge you’re now welcome to explore. Though I stayed very briefly, the allure of Edgewood will bring me back soon. There are still remnants about, including fire hydrants, assorted concrete slabs, the old rail spur, and–allegedly–access to the tunnel system. Even if discovery of these features is hard earned, the life of the refuge is peaceful and contains a wild not often present in the suburban sprawl. To follow are some of the pictures from my brief stay.

(Sources: The Farm Colonies; Caring for New York City’s Mentally Ill in Long Island State Hospitals and EdgewoodHospital.com.)