The Belchertown School for the Feeble-Minded opened in 1922 with about 500 patients and a hundred staff. Later called Belchertown State School, the facility’s patient population grew into the thousands, and the institution was once the town’s biggest employer.
The place looked nice enough from a distance. If you were driving by, you might have thought it was a college campus—lots of brick buildings with sprawling lawns. That’s how most people saw it. What happened inside, behind locked doors, was out of sight and out of mind. By the 1960s, budget shortfalls and understaffing contributed to daily abuse and neglect. Belchertown State School was shuttered in 1992, the result of a class action lawsuit.
This talk is the story of seven-year-old Darlene Rameau, who in 1963, became patient #4952.
Presented by Ed Orzechowski, author and advocate
Join us in-person or online!
If you plan to attend in person at the Museums, tickets are available on the day of the lecture in the Welcome Center.
Members: FREE
Springfield residents: $4
Nonmembers: $4
To attend via ZOOM, please register in advance.
