I have browsed so many websites on this place! From the totally weird to the generally misinformed! So many people are expressing this interest in an old abandoned state mental hospital-that was opened in 1906 and closed in 1990-84 years of controversy and frustration on the part of everyone involved! When I signed on as a volunteer in the summer of 1981 Byberry had a bad reputation already and many people already wanted to find ANY excuse to GET INSIDE and see what all the talk was about!Yes,Byberry WAS a terrible place-It stunk,was overcrowded,was poorly staffed,was falling apart,couldn’t keep good doctors or nurses! Yet, practically EVERY church or volunteer group in the Phila. Area took some part in OUTREACH to this misunderstood and unfortunate group of persons-many of whom TODAY are no longer institutionalized! At least until they are too old or feeble-then they just fill our nursing homes! Let me take you on a historical tour of what is left of a “ gone but not forgotten” part of our lives…BYBERRY!
If you look towards the industrial park just near Mechanicsville rd. you will see a remodeled building that was once used to house old women-many of them dying of brain diseases caused by syphyllis! This bldg. sat empty since about 1970.If you travel down Southampton rd across the Blvd. On the right lie the remains of Maple unit and Poplar unit.These “C” bldgs. Housed up to 48 patients each .C-2 housed women and C-4 & C-5 housed mentally retarded men & women-these persons were moved to C-9 & C-10 and were treated by another facility until being moved out completely in 1985.By that time only the ‘N’ bldgs. And W-6 were being used at all: W-6 was used to house all the geriatric patients-many of them senile and totally dependent. N-9 was used for the younger and more criminally involved patients-as was N-8 also. Bldg. N-10-the one closest to Carter rd-formerly used for patients with Tuberculosis-was last used as a medical infirmary and skilled nursing unit-mostly for crippled and chronically dependent persons. When Byberry was finally closed in 1990 most of these remaining patients were transferred to group homes,nursing homes,private boarding homes or other state-run facilities for the disabled. All in All,there is really nothing there to see! At least nothing like the real thing! The real thing is letting God direct your hands and your hearts to help those who still remain locked away-not in Byberry of course-but in places without family or loving company! Never mind the “ghosts” let the Lord of us all direct YOU to reach out to those “lost souls” here on this earth who NEED to be loved and cared for!!!
Submitted by: BRUCE E-Mail