Over 120 years ago, the first male occupants arrived at the newly constructed State Asylum for the Insane following a battle for the Anoka location. It’s history looms large in local lore and this program promises to tease fact from fiction. Listen to a portion of the program given January 13 at the History Center in this episode.
Host Rebecca Desens, ACHS Director and Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator
Originally aired June 17, 2022
Read MoreThe Anoka State Hospital housed and treated mentally ill patients from 1900 to 1999 and its large, three-story cottages standing next to the Rum River are a source of fascination. As part of an oral history project in 2014, Karen Siewert talked about her time working there in the early 1960s, conditions in the overcrowded buildings, and her continued work to transform the Hospital’s cemetery into one of remembrance and dignity for the patients buried there.
TW: Mental illness and outdated treatment practices
Host Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director
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