ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Dozens of former employees gathered Friday at the edge of the old Allentown State Hospital site to pay tribute to their work and the institution’s legacy.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission unveiled a new Official State Historical Marker along Hanover Avenue commemorating the site's century of service as a psychiatric hospital.
The marker is the newest of about 2,600 across the state, according to Commissioner Kim Bracey.
“Each marker establishes an important link to the past. It's my hope that this marker today will not be the end of the story but will instead provide encouragement for further study and discussion as it did for me.”Kim Bracey, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
“Each marker establishes an important link to the past,” Bracey said.
“It's my hope that this marker today will not be the end of the story but will instead provide encouragement for further study and discussion as it did for me.”
Allentown State Hospital opened in 1912 and remained in operation until December 2010. The sprawling campus’ numerous buildings were torn down in 2020.
City Center, Allentown’s most prominent developer, bought the 195-acre property in September 2022 for about $5.5 million after then-state Sen. Pat Browne helped push the deal through.
It plans to build hundreds of housing units of various types, as well as offices, health care and educational centers and other facilities.
At least 70 acres of the property must be preserved for outdoor recreation at the development, to be known as Northridge.
Council last year approved a mixed-use overlay district to let the developer build on the land that's zoned for industrial and governmental uses.
‘This place was truly special’
The hospital's first superintendent, Dr. Henry Klopp, was “an early pioneer and leader in progressive psychiatric healthcare” and helped establish the institution’s reputation for “humane care,” Bracey said.
Initially known as the Homoeopathic State Hospital for the Insane at Allentown, it was regarded as Pennsylvania’s first homeopathic hospital for the treatment of children and adults with severe mental illness.
Klopp “fought against the stigmatizing effects … of the ‘insane’ label,” she said.
Author Steven Royer wrote a book on the Allentown State Hospital for the Images of America series. He said Friday that Klopp ordered staff at the state hospital to remove the word “insane” from the large signs bearing its name.
"This place was truly special."Author Steven Royer
Klopp’s insistence on providing patients with the “treatment of love, kindness and caring” was revolutionary at a time when many state hospitals were still restraining people with chains, Royer said.
Allentown State Hospital was constantly at the cutting edge of new treatment methods and practices throughout its decades of service, according to Royer, who may be the foremost expert of the institution’s history and legacy.
“This place was truly special,” he said.
‘I was very lucky’
Barbara Duraso returned Friday to the former grounds of the Allentown State Hospital, where she worked for 35 years.
Duraso, who grew up in East Allentown, said she never expected to work at the institution but ended up spending her whole career there.
“I tell anybody that’ll listen" that I worked there."Barbara Duraso, a 35-year employee of the former Allentown State Hospital
She started her career as a file clerk but retired as a member of the Allentown State Hospital’s administration.
“I was very lucky; How many people can say they worked anywhere for 35 years?” Duraso said as her voice cracked from emotion.
Duraso said she was “scared to death” when she started working there as a 17-year-old, but she quickly learned the hospital was “the best state hospital system.”
She still beams with pride from her service at the Allentown State Hospital, almost a decade and a half after its closure.
“I tell anybody that’ll listen" that I worked there, she said.
