Western State Hospital and the DeJarnette Center for Human Development are located in Staunton, Virginia. Western State Hospital opened in 1828 while the DeJarnette Center opened in 1932. Both have since ceased to be used for their original purpose and while the original Western State buildings have been repurposed a number of times since the hospital left the campus, the DeJarnette Center was abandoned in 1996 and set to be demolished, although currently none of the demolition plans have been put into action.2
The DeJarnette Center is distinct from other abandoned hospitals such as Allentown and St. Elizabeths in that the legacy it holds for the community is overwhelmingly negative. Whereas St. Elizabeths is memorialized for its impact on the field of mental health and Allentown for its role in the patients’ rights movement and architectural significance, DeJarnette is largely remembered for the reputation of its namesake. Joseph DeJarnette was the director of Western State Hospital in an era that its care began to decline, with neglect and what – in an example that provides insight to wider public views – is described as “archaic medical knowledge” and “primitive” treatment becoming characteristic of what one could expect in the hospital.4 Furthermore, DeJarnette is remembered for his enthusiastic support of eugenics, famously admiring Nazi Germany’s sterilization program and expressing his distress that the US could not keep up in its own sterilization practices. In Virginia, he helped to pass the state’s eugenics law and was responsible for over 8,000 people being sterilized from 1927-1976.5
The center had already engaged with the question of whether and how this history was to be preserved, dropping DeJarnette’s name when it changed locations, but the issue has remained a topic of debate as it awaits demolition. A 2006 article from The Hook, a newsmagazine from Charlottesville, Virginia, and its comments from members of the community over the next few years display the conflicted feelings about what should be done with the historic buildings. Recounting the efforts of the Frontier Culture Museum to find a buyer for the site, the article describes problems similar to those seen with sites like St. Elizabeths, where neglect and decay have led to exorbitant costs for restoration that are simply too much to appeal to buyers who might be able to repurpose the buildings or for historic preservation groups to be able to interfere. This is something that appears to be an issue across the board; even hospitals such as Fulton State Hospital that remained active did not have the capabilities to maintain the buildings they occupied. This issue only increased following them being abandoned, which has resulted in them being ill suited to most proposed developments.6
The Hook article goes on to describe the DeJarnette Center as representative of an “unhappy history” and “ugly chapter” for Virginia, suggesting furthermore that the haunting presence of the abandon building is ignored by the surrounding modern environment because many wish it to disappear without having to actually approach or engage with it. This represents one type of thinking about asylums with particularly negative histories: that they should not be touched and that should be, as much as possible, erased. However, the article further notes that many do not want it to be demolished for that very same reason, feeling that the hospital should be preserved because its past was so negative as a method of remembering and honoring those who suffered there, rather than those who caused their suffering such as DeJarnette.7 This idea is enforced by many of the comments on the article from people in and around the Staunton community. Many expressed their opinion that the Frontier Culture Museum did not do enough to look for solutions other than demolition and that they would like to see the site turned into a museum of its own. Some comments additionally expressed concern that records of their family members that were patients at DeJarnette may be lost when the buildings are demolished.
Although this article and others primarily view the center through the lens of historic preservation, many of the comments focus on the idea that it is haunted, with numerous recounting recent visits to look for ghosts and concerns about the loss of the building for that reason. While ghost stories at abandoned asylums are not rare at all, these stories seem to be most common at sites like DeJarnette and Pennhurst that are remembered more for their dark histories than for their role in the advancement of mental health care. There is a clear connection between these two factors, and, as described by Emily Smith Beitiks when discussing Pennhurst, the “haunted asylum” stereotype often ends up straddling the line between trying to preserve the history of the structures and exploiting the suffering that occurred there.8
Most of the comments on the Hook article are against the destruction of the site, with members of the community and those who had personal connections to the hospital when it was open alike expressing concern; however, the complexities of the continuing debate – demolition still has not occurred well over a decade later – are displayed in this particularly impactful comment from a former patient.
- Joshua Rawson, “The abandoned DeJarnette Sanitarium, (image), “Forgotten Asylums: A Solemn History of Mental Health,” Abandoned Country, March 13, 2022, accessed September 11, 2023, https://www.abandonedcountry.com/2022/03/13/forgotten-asylums-a-solemn-history-of-mental-health/. ↩︎
- Jessica Cole, “Forgotten Asylums; A Solemn History of Mental Health,” Abandoned Country, March 13, 2022, accessed September 11, 2023, https://www.abandonedcountry.com/2022/03/13/forgotten-asylums-a-solemn-history-of-mental-health/. ↩︎
- Glenn Campbell, “Abandoned Insane Asylum in Staunton, Virginia — Exploring the DeJarnette Sanitarium,” Youtube Video, 12:54, May 6, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEaremFqeCg. ↩︎
- Cole, “Forgotten Asylums.” ↩︎
- Dave, McNair, “On Architecture- Erasing history: Wrecking ball aiming for DeJarnette?” The Hook 528, (July 2006), accessed September 11, 2023, https://web.archive.org/web/20221220033820/https://readthehook.net/79628/onarchitecture-erasing-history-wrecking-ball-aiming-dejarnette. ↩︎
- McNair, “On Architecture.” ↩︎
- McNair, “On Architecture.” ↩︎
- Emily Smith Beitiks, “The Ghosts of Institutionalization at Pennhurst’s Haunted Asylum,” Hastings Center Report, 42, no. 1 (January/February 2012), accessed September 11, 2023, https://web.s.ebscohost.com/chc/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=87264231-6d7e-4aff-9b37-7de8393a41e7%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9Y2hjLWxpdmU%3d#AN=82190459&db=cmh. ↩︎
- McNair, “On Architecture.” ↩︎
