Willard Asylum

Willard Asylum for the Insane opened its doors in 1869 and its first patient arrived on October 13.

In the mid-1880's, surprise inspections from the state reported patients were clean and quiet, unrestrained and occupied by various activities like reading or sewing. They referred to it as ‘moral treatment’. Those that were capable were urged to work, tending the grounds and the gardens, working as carpenters or cobblers, preparing food in the kitchens and the bakeries or washing clothes in
the laundry.

The Willard Asylum closed in 1995, after more than a century of use, home to hundreds of people at any one time. The average stay of a patient at Willard was 30 years, and many of them never left as witnessed by the nearby graveyard.

THe 400 Suitcases:
Around 400 suitcases were neatly packed and stacked away by attendants who hadn’t been able to bring themselves to simply throw away the possessions of those who had come to the asylum and never left. Each suitcase had originally been packed by the patients or their families, and they contained the most important treasures of their lives outside Willard Asylum for the Insane. In many cases, patients’ families forgot about them when they went to Willard. When they died, there was no one to collect their personal possessions, but the staff of the institution also didn’t want to throw them away. The storage system was put in place from the 1920's to the 1960's, with each suitcase carefully wrapped and preserved, marked with tags identifying the owner and the dates they arrived at the Asylum.