MenuMedia WingBackMedia TimelineMedia ExhibitMedicine WingBackMedicine Timeline ExhibitMedical Establishment ExhibitPrevention ExhibitCures ExhibitSociety WingBackSociety Timeline ExhibitLaw ExhibitSports ExhibitEugenics ExhibitBreaking the Law?African Americans and the disABILITY ExperienceNew York WingBackNew York State Map ExhibitBack1900-19501851-18991800-18501650-1799RomeBuffaloNewarkNew York State Timeline ExhibitEducation WingBackEducators ExhibitEducation ExhibitAdvocacy WingBackAdvocacy ExhibitKennedy FamilySelf Advocacy Exhibit Virtual Museum > New York Wing > New York State Map Exhibit 1900-1950 Click on any image to explore the virtual gallery. 1935 1935: Woodbourne Institute for Defective Delinquents open, the first inmates are transfers from Napanoch, Woodbourne, Sullivan County, NY 1938 1938: New York State begins construction of a new state school on 375 acres of land on Staten Island which will become the Willowbrook State School. 1921 1921: Napanoch opens as Institution for (Male) Defective Delinquents Development of New York State Institutions 1900 - 1950 New York State has a long history of attempting to care for individuals with disabilities. As New York emerged from the colonial era it needed to provide for the mental health needs of its citizens. In the early 1800s, the New York Hospital was the only option for state care for the "insane." In 1824 the legislature enacted a law requiring counties to establish almshouses that would provide the care for a "dependent population" that included "paupers, lunatics and idiots." The State erected asylums for the blind, the deaf and the insane. Individuals with intellectual disabilities were often mixed in with these populations, housed with the poor, in jails or found themselves without any support or services. Science, medicine, government and social thought converged as New York sought a "cure" for the "idiots and imbeciles" and established the first institution for individuals with developmental disabilities in North America. 1901 1901: The women's reformatory at Bedford Hills opens. Westchester County, NY 1904 1904: The House of Refuge for Women at Hudson Changes its name to the New York State Training School for Girls, an institution for female juvenile delinquents 1909 1909: The Crippled Children's Guild began in 1909 to "maintain a free summer home for crippled children at Erie Beach." It quickly grew to also provide a home in Buffalo for children in need of artificial limbs, crutches, and medical treatment. 1910 1910: Letchworth Village for the "feeble-minded and epileptic" opens in Thiells, Rockland County, NY 1912 1912: The City of Buffalo's Tuberculosis Hospital opens. Located on land in Perrysburg, New York donated by Buffalo Mayor James Nobel Adam, designed in 1909 by the prominent architect John Hopper Coxhead . 1913 1913: "Special Training Class for Mental Defectives" Is started at the NYS Reformatory in Elmira. 1918 1918: Newark changes its name to "Newark State School for Mental Defectives" 1919 1919: Rome changes its name to "Rome State School" 1920 1920: A Division for Mentally Defective Delinquent Women is created at Bedford Hills 1923 1923: Albion changes name to "Albion State training school" 1931 1931: Albion become the "Sister" facility for Napanoch, with a name change to the Institution for Mentally Defective Delinquent Women, the feebleminded inmates at Bedford Hills are transferred to Albion, and Albion's "reformable" inmates go to Bedford Hills. 1927 1927: Newark is placed under the direction of the Department of Mental Hygiene, and adopts the name "Newark State School." 1930 1930: Wassaic State School opens