I made a myspace for clinton valley. Their are some new pictures there.

http://www.myspace.com/clintonvalleycenter

I just posted about my grandfather and decided to post again with my name. I too was an "inpatient" as a teen although not at Pontiac and I too spent time in the "Quiet Room". My crime was trying to escape and I spent two weeks in there. At the time I didn't consider that in itself abusive as it was far less than the abuse at home. I was there because I was a "chronic runaway". So glad I didn't live in Pontiac then but if I did I think I would be glad to see the walls come down because it would be a constant reminder of a very bad time in my life. The "history" that it represents is an ugly one even if the building isn't.

My grandfather died at Pontiac State Hospital in 1969 after being taken there while having a "black out". He was restrained, given an injection and screamed so hard before he died his esophogus burst. What a horrendous and inhumane way to go.
Cause of death? Reaction to medication. His black out was caused by a medical condition but they didn't know that then and aparently didn't care. The building is or was beautiful but that's no way to treat a human being for any reason. For many that building represented terror and perhaps the one who wanted it destroyed had a ghost of their own? People didn't have to be "crazy" to be taken there.

I have worked in the group home field for the past 22 years and I could not have imagined what the patients went through, I have heard stories from clients, doctors, nurses and other people that worked in some of the hospitals, I have come to the conclusion that if people were treated with dignity and respect, loved and given attention there lives would be alot better off, when you have a person that is on a butt wiping program at the age of 40 years old there is something wrong-everyone reguardless of their situation that had to indure this type of torture because society didn't want to DEAL with them, I am so sorry, no HUMAN should have to have gone through this, we dont even treat prisioners like this and they are the criminals. I really enjoy what I do, and it is such a reward when a human being learns to love and hug another human without the fear of getting hurt.

Wonder if the people that bought homes there knew the true history of the hospital, like back in the 40's or earlier.
If so, I hope the greedy AS*HOLES are haunted by all the patients who were murdered or died there.
I was in there too....and the person who said that they worked there: I was in there when you worked. You were probably one of the sadistic bastar*ds who tortured the kids with your quiet rooms, over medication, ice sheets, shock therapies, and whatever your little pea-brained evil minds could think up. Why do I say this?: cause' you made a statement that while you worked there, you never saw any abuse. If you really worked there: LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!
One of the reasons the state shut the damn thing down was the abuses and inhumane treatment. Thats a fact, and all your "I never saw anything" reminds me of the SS who tried that line after WW 2. All you have to do is google and research all the abuses that were there. I hope you get haunted by the poor souls who died there.
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RESPONCE:
LOOK AHOLE, I NEVER SAID I WORKED THERE, I DIDN'T I WAS THE LAST PERSON TO PHOTOGRAPH IT. I NEVER HEARD OF ANY ABUSES UNLESS YOU CALL RESTRAINING AN OUT OF CONTROL NUT CASE ABUSE. WHY WERE YOU IN AN INSANE ASYLUM ANYWAY? SOUNDS LIKE YOU STILL HAVE ANGER ISSUES, GET OVER IT. ENGLER CLOSED ALL THE INSTUTIONS BECAUSE HE WAS A CHEAP CRIMINAL BASTAR*D.
J.

I was in Pontiac State Hospital in 1961. The comment from someone who said they were in there from 1956-1963 and they saw nothing horrendous going on must have been on more thorazine than me! Using ice sheets, locking children up in a small room for days at a time when they were unmanageable, using more meds than what today would be acceptable....today that would be CHILD ABUSE....
This person obviously still doesn't have a grip on reality.
I AM SO GLAD THEY SHUT THIS HELLHOLE DOWN FINALLY....but to tear it down was a crime. Someone should have went to court and tried to get it declared a historical place. WTF is wrong with our state government?
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It was a historical site Engler and the Pontiac politicians closed it for monitary gain, it's sister site in Traverse City has been restored and renovated and made into lofts and retail space, the main building here was structureally sound and the same thing could have been done.
J.

Ok, I'm going to chime in again here on a different subject now. I'm noticing a lot of resentment for these places closing down and it is obvious these people have no idea what went on there or how they manage these people now since the institution is gone. Like this comment:

"It's sad that theres hardly any to no respect for the mentally ill whatsoever. Close Clinton Valley and other Psych hospitals just to save money!!! Now how stupid does that sound??"

You're kidding me right? Do you even know why these people were locked away? To get them out of society! No one wanted to see these people.... society was scared of them. They didn't just release them on the streets either. Now they have group homes which the state funds to a point but they are privatized and run by people who have the money to give them better care. They are residents in homes all around the state and are treated like family members. There are only 8 to 12 residents in each home.
they get great health care and good food made by the works who care for them. I know this because my ex-wife use to work in one and I spent a lot of time in them. The staff truly developed a love for the residents and worried about them. Not only that but instead of being thrown in to a "jail" like surrounding and forgotten about by their family... now the family has to take an active part in their care. these people are taken out in the community on field trips, out to dinner... to parks. they are treated like humans.

You're not going to find that kind of care in a place like CVC or any other institute where people are crammed like animals. Where the doctors look at the people like test subjects rather than people and the people are referred to as their room number... not their name. They are no longer studied.... they are cared for.

If you've never walked the halls of CVC while it was open and smelled the smell and heard the cries and seen the crap covered, pee soaked people who lived there then shut up... you don't know what your talking about.

Republicans, Democrats.... who cares.... all I know is who ever decided that state run institutions were not the way to go was right on.

I was at Fairlawn sometime around 1975 - 1976. I don't remember anything really bad happening there in the ward I was in. I do know that some of the staff were evil, bad people who had no business working there. Seeing people talk about the "quiet room" gives me weird feelings... it's just been so long ago - I haven't heard that term in a long time. I do know there were some troubled kids there, some of them who became good friends and I wish I knew where they are now.

I was there because I didn't "fit in" at schools... my work wasn't "satisfactory" even though I had a very high IQ... turns out I was A.D.D. and has taken me 30 years to figure it out.

As for the CVC side being destroyed (CVC and Fairlawn were two separate buildings)... well I'm all for saving history but in this case... I think the story is best told by those that were held inside and if they say its better off gone.. then I have to agree. They know what they experienced there better than anyone and if driving down the road where it once stood and seeing it no longer there helps them and their demons... then good for them.

I know when I went there (CVC) on a weekly basis.... I remember such things as "Guest Rachael" remembers.... a stench in the air and a very uneasy feeling... like walking into death. I hated it and wish I had never walked into the place. Screams and crazy laughter and the sick smell. I will never forget that and seeing pictures of the old building after 30 years brings back all of those memories... I can't imagine how one feels who actually lived in the CVC building.

I wish there was some website that former residents could go to talk about their experiences or maybe find lost friends they made there.

I spenttime at clinton valley twice as a youngster, when i was 10 and again when i was 13..I remember them trying to force meds on me with out my mothers consent. I remember being locked up in the Q-R room for 7 days once it was a bad memory for me and the sad oart is some of those doc.s are still working today... heaven help us!!

I worked at Fairlawn Ctr for nearly 12 years. In those days I worked on every ward at one time or another. I felt much empathy for all the children that passed through. I remember weekend field trips to all areas of SE Michigan such as Belle Isle, Bronner's, or area parks. I remember kids arriving on drugs and crying and screaming at the demons they envisioned, trying to console them and talking for hours with them. I remember parents not fit to be be parents and felt so sorry when a child was returned to them. In the years that past I have seen only a couple in the Outside World" I always wonder how the rest are doing and pray that things have worked out for them. I never met a bad kid at Fairlawn, just kids that had received more than anyone's share of bad luck.

I just wanted to say, that the people who say, "nothing ever went on in fairlawn" is either uninformed, liars, or doesn't care, and wants to cover up. How would u like to be ra ped day in, and day out by the staff, abused, looked at while at the age of 14 by a bunch of older people who laugh cause your without your clothes, and want to touch you while they "strip search" you....WITH BIG UGLY SMILES!!!

I SPENT 2 AND ONE HALF YEARS IN CVC AND I CAN TELL YOU MY STORY OF MURDER AND MAYHEM THAT WENT ON BEHIND THE WALLS AT CVC THE WERE 75 INMATES MURDERED BY STAFF WORKERS THEN GOT INDICTED FOR MURDER I KNOW OF ONE INMATE WHO GAVE UP HER LIFE FOR ME TO GO FREE.
THE HELL I WENT THROUGH IT STILL HAUNTS ME TO THIS DAY I CAN NEVER FORGET THAT GOD AWFUL PLACE.
BUT I CAN TELL YOU THIS WHEN THEY SHOWED THE TEARING OF CVC DOWN I NOT ONLY WEPT FOR MYSELF BUT FOR THE 75 SOULS LOST IN CVC I ONLY WANT OTHERS TO SEE WHAT WENT ON BEHIND THE WALLS OF CVC.
IF OTHER FORMER IMATES HAVE STORIES TO SHARE I SURE WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU.

Additionally, anyone that was around from '92-'93 can feel free to email me @ xxsuccubusxx@gmail.com

I was in Fairlawn around 1992-1993, on the Birchwood ward (the most tightly secured ward there)...There were good and bad things about CVC, however it tugs at my heart every time I think about the beautiful architecture that was torn away without a single thought, for the love of money.
Those who are posting about what a horrid place it was seem to forget that there was more to it than just *their* experiences, or the horrors they heard of.
Yes, I know that I'm a few years late posting here, however I was looking for pictures of the place for a friend that recently bought a new home where the hospital once set. I wanted him to see what his pretty home truly cost.

I feel like people were treated unfair. I was @ mv 4 (1987-1988). There was this one girl who was in the quiet room for a year. One day I told her that I loved her, and she started coming around. Shortly after she turned 18 and went into placement. Shorty after that she got a job. All she needed was love and not stay in a quiet room. I would go crazy, if someone put me there for a year !!

I really appreciate all the statements you guys put on here. My friends and I have always wonderd why they wouldnt keep CVC up. They sure came to an agreement to knock it down quick. Im a Pontiac / Waterford Native, Although I have been in the building and in the woods behind it....I witnessed some things that I will never forget in my life time. None the less....I really did appreciate the building.

I was a resident at The Fairlawn Center back in 1975-1978. Labeled inccorigible at the hands of the state, I was an abused child whom had an unavailable mother and an abusive father.
I remember many nights when male staff would "sit" by the beds of the young teenage clients. One a husband to the daughter of the Chief Physiciatrist.
I was given E.S.T.(Electro shock) at the age of twevlve. I too as stated by others never understood why I was there.
I obtained three short pieces of my record from my three year stay with the services of an attorney.That was all there was before the building was raized.After almost three years a resident! Amazing.
Times have changed. The way we treat mental illness now, one may stay at their home and maintain dignitity. That is through medication. There really is no need for a CVC anymore.
The old building was creepy and I remember it stank. To visit the common store was tramautic to me.
Anyone whom was a resident at the fairlwn center who would like to share their experience please contact me at quitesure23@hotmail.com

I will say there were some good staff at Fairlawn and cvc. It was the doctor's {darlene doety} that spelled my doom. I was just an innocent 14 year old with some problems. Anyways, if you were in fairlawn or the iip program in cvc in 1992 please contact me. I'm jeremy marquardt. This includes staff like my awesome teacher phyliss operman, friends that i made there, tony coil, jenny prevost, eric bergman, hope david, paula stollicker, I miss you all and hopefully someday i'll get to speak of my memories of that time.

Hit me up @ trix@dropd.net

It is truly a shame that classic "historic" buildings are simply bulldozed for that all mighty dollar!! I am grateful that there are still a few photographs of those majestic buildings in existence. I did get the chance to take a few pictures of the buildings for a college photography class and found the entire place an amazing source of knowledge and beauty. So sad is the fact that foresight of "historic landmarks" can be destroyed by government idiocy and greed.

my dads real mother was in this place but knowbody really knows why. one theory was that he was having an affair with the lady that he did marry after she died. how can i find out anything about her in that place. it would have been around 1930 or so. the paper that one person had said she died of complications from a baby. but my dad was 2 years old when she died. please contact me at loverland6@charter.net if you have any thing to help. thank you.