Pennhurst: School For 'Feeble-Minded' Now Tourist Stop In Spring City

SPRING CITY, PA —At the top of a winding road in Spring City is the infamous Pennhurst State School and Hospital, which was once a place for the so-called “feeble-minded and epileptic,” that has been transformed into a museum and haunted house.

During the Halloween season, a stop at the Pennhurst Asylum Museum has become a tradition for tourists and locals alike who have an affinity for the scary and supernatural.

The museum also hosts three-hour walking history tours to educate the public on the history of the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities in southeastern Pennsylvania.

On a recent visit to the museum, Jim Werner, operations manager, and his puppy, Gizmo, led a Patch local editor on a tour of a secluded world, away from the society, of those who lived in the state hospital in Chester County from 1908 to 1987.

The museum, 1205 Commonwealth Drive, Spring City, features models of the rooms where children were housed, the kitchen, and clothing worn by staffers.

Pennhurst’s history

Between 1908 and 1987, an estimated 10,600 children with disabilities were warehoused in brick buildings hidden far away from public view along the banks of the Schuylkill River in East Vincent Township. The site was known as 'Crab Hill.'

“There were kids here from all over southeastern Pennsylvania,” Werner said. “It’s very rural. It had low staffing and the conditions were horrible.”

The residents lived in small rooms with two or three beds in two-story red, brick buildings.

Werner explained that doctors would recommend that parents send their children with disabilities to live in the state school.

“Parents were told to drop their kids off here,” he said. “People wandered off of the property.”

Pennhurst was intended to house 500 residents, but the 1,400-acre campus quickly became overcrowded.

J. Gregory Pirmann, a former employee of Pennhurst, wrote in a book about Pennhurst that the facility became one of the largest employers in the area, with over 1,800 employees. He noted that many of the employees resided in Spring City.

It closed in December 1987, after lawsuits and investigations uncovered deplorable conditions.

Werner said in the 1990s, the abandoned campus became a hangout for locals. The campus remained vacant until 2009, when a developer purchased the property.

Haunted attraction

In 2010, the administration building opened as a haunted attraction during Halloween. In 2017, the daytime tours started and overnight paranormal investigators were available.

On April 10, 2010, the nonprofit, Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance, Public Interest Law Center, and the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission, dedicated a highway marker on Route 724 acknowledging the lives of the residents in Pennhurst and the significance of disability civil rights.

Werner said he started out working as an actor in the haunted house attraction and worked his way up to manager. He is devoted to preserving the history.

Next Attraction

Pennhurst presents Paracon & Oddities Expo on May 19-21. A three-day expo features vendors, psychics, special guests and historical tours.
The travel channel’s destination documentary filmmaker Dakota Laden is expected to explore Pennhurst’s abandoned buildings. More information is available here.