Willard

When Willard Psychiatric Center was first built in upstate New York in 1869, there was no one around to say "not in my backyard." Rather, the town of Willard grew up around the institution. And then, over the course of the next century, the lives of those who lived "inside" and those who lived "outside" became utterly intertwined. The hospital is closed now, but the recent discovery of 400 suitcases belonging to some of its patients has stirred up a lot of memories. INTRO: The phrase Company Town is a loaded one. It's interesting to recall that... before the term came to describe cities like L.A. and Washington, D.C. it really referred, literally, to towns where one company owned all the houses and the stores and basically loomed over every aspect of life. And like situations in which grownups still live with their parents long after they should have moved out... the whole relationship was often built on contention, exploitaton and bitterness. In upstate New York, on the shores of remote Seneca Lake, sits a most unusual company town. The main industry in Willard, New York is Willard Hospital: a psychiatric institute built by the state in 1869. Talk about a situation fraught with peril. And yet Blue Chevigny tells us that for more than a century, a certain connection developed between those on the outside and those living around and working at the hospital. OUTRO: Those suitcases from Building 96 that contributor Blue Chevigny talked about are now on display at the State Museum in Albany. It's part of an exhibit called "Lost Cases, Recovered Lives." Blue says that one woman, Madeline, left a cardboard 78 rpm record in her suitcase. On it, this 1931 recording by the New York Twelve, "You're Driving me Crazy." Madeline was at Willard for 40 years. She advocated throughout her entire stay to be released.