Memorial Park-state hospital-dedication-2021The main entrance to the Hospital and the North Wing, 1909
After 1876, a Victorian-style, cast-iron fountain was installed
opposite the entrance to "Old Main" and offered a soothing diversion
for patients. Since the 1980s, the fountain suffered from disuse and
vandalism. After the Hospital closed in 1993, the process of the
campus' redevelopment required the master developer to provide a
site for a memorial. Beginning in 2006, the Northampton State
Hospital Memorial Committee held public listening sessions, devel-
oped plans, raised funds, and worked with the City to create a
permanent memorial on the site of the former Hospital.
The Memorial Committee and the City of Northampton arranged
for the restoration and reinstallation of the fountain-on its original
site-as part of a memorial to patients and employees of the Hospital.
Illustrated signs installed in the Park and at various sites throughout
Village Hill document the history of the Hospital, its patients, staff,
and buildings, so that we will remember what happened here.
PROGRAM
for the Dedication of the
Northampton State Hospital
Memorial Park & Fountain
Joseph Blumenthal
Mayor David Narkewicz
Patrick M. Goggins
Tom Riddell
Stephen Schwartz
Anna Schuleit Haber
• • • • •
Lest we forget
The Northampton State Hospital, at its inception,
was a grand experiment and commitment indeed,
reflecting a determination to treat the mentally ill
with something other than restraint, abuse and
neglect. For untold generations, the mentally ill
were off the radar and crushed by it.
This small important place is designed to create a
place of peace and learning, and to remember these
people, powerless, often forgotten, with their own
patterns of ecstasy and suffering, who lived here,
healed here, thrived here, and succumbed here.
It acknowledges the closer walk we take
with the difficult dimensions of life.
-Jonathan Wright
Many thanks to the fallowing individuals, organizations,
and groups for their vision and/or monetary support for the
Fountain Restoration & Memorial Park
Joseph and Barbara B. Blumenthal
Citizens Advisory Committee
Community Preservation Committee
DeRose Family
Jackie Duda
Patrick M . Goggins
Elisabeth and Robert Grams Haxby
Historic Northampton
Margaret Bullitt-Jonas and Robert Jonas
Martha Lyon Landscape Architecture
Mary Pelis and Justin Pelis
Tom Riddell
Jonathan and Meg Kelsey Wright
Mass Development
MassHumanities
MassWorks Infrastructure Program
Northampton Community Preservation Act
Northampton Department of Planning & Sustainability
ServiceNet
Smith College
Smith College NSH First Year Seminar students
Residents of Village Hill
Western Mass Department of Mental Health employees
and generous contributions from
other individuals and organizations
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Dedication of the
Northampton State Hospital
Memorial Park & Fountain
Saturday June 5, 2021
1:00 PM