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Willowbrook State School

1928 establishments in New York City1987 disestablishments in New York (state)Defunct hospitals in Staten IslandDefunct schools in New York CityGovernment buildings completed in 1928
Hospital buildings completed in 1942Hospitals established in 1942Human subject research in the United StatesIntellectual disability hospitalsNew York State Department of Mental HygienePsychiatric hospitals in New York (state)Psychiatry controversiesSchool buildings completed in 1942
Willowbrook State School (NYPL b15279351 105038) cropped
Willowbrook State School (NYPL b15279351 105038) cropped

Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities located in the Willowbrook neighborhood on Staten Island in New York City from 1947 until 1987. The school was designed for 4,000, but by 1965 it had a population of 6,000. At the time, it was the biggest state-run institution for people with mental disabilities in the United States. Conditions and questionable medical practices and experiments prompted Senator Robert F. Kennedy to call it a "snake pit." The institution gained national infamy in 1972, when Geraldo Rivera did an exposé on the conditions there. Public outcry led to its closure in 1987, and to federal civil rights legislation protecting people with disabilities. A February 2020 New York Times investigation found that the alumni of Willowbrook continue to be abused in smaller group homes.A portion of the grounds and some of the buildings were incorporated into the campus of the College of Staten Island, which moved to Willowbrook in the early 1990s.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Willowbrook State School (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Willowbrook State School
Victory Boulevard, New York Staten Island

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N 40.5994 ° E -74.1506 °
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College of Staten Island (City University of New York College of Staten Island)

Victory Boulevard 2800
10314 New York, Staten Island
New York, United States
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csi.cuny.edu

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Willowbrook State School (NYPL b15279351 105038) cropped
Willowbrook State School (NYPL b15279351 105038) cropped
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Bulls Head, Staten Island
Bulls Head, Staten Island

Bulls Head is a neighborhood in west-central Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City. It is bordered by New Springville to the south, Bloomfield to the west, Willowbrook to the east, Graniteville to the north, and Westerleigh to the north. The community received its name from an 18th-century tavern located at the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Richmond Avenue (the neighborhood's central point), from which a sign bearing a bull's head was displayed. The Bulls Head area was also known as Phoenixville. During the American Revolution, this tavern became the local headquarters of the faction loyal to the British crown, or Tories, as they were colloquially known. As recently as the early 1960s, Bulls Head and the surrounding neighborhoods, such as Willowbrook to the east and Graniteville to the north, were dominated by farmland. Dramatic change came soon after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964, opening up the area to residential development. Soon many Jewish families, mostly from the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, settled in Bulls Head and other west mid-island neighborhoods. A smaller number of Asian immigrants live in Bulls Head. Many of the residents are Italian Catholics served by Our Lady of Pity R.C. Church.Bulls Head's schools are the elementary school P.S. 60 and the intermediate school I.S. 72. Most of the residents are zoned for Port Richmond High School. The Todt Hill Library is nearby, at 2550 Victory Boulevard. Bulls Head is served by the S44, S59, S62, S89, S92 and S94 local buses and the SIM4, SIM4C, SIM8, SIM8X, SIM32 and SIM33 express buses.As of the 2010 census, the demographics of Bulls Head were roughly 71.2% White, 2.3% Black, 15% Hispanic, 9.8% Asian, and 1.7% Other. This is defining Bulls Head as everything within the boundaries of Census Tracts 291.03, and 291.04, as well as the blocks north of Willowbrook Park in Tract 273.01.