The Poor House: All that remains

Continued from last week

On Nov. 3, Brown County’s application for $300,000 to construct a new facility was approved by the federal public works administration — 30% an outright grant and the balance through a loan,

The county project was one of 41 non-federal projects in 15 states awarded funding that day.
Work was started in 1934 and completed by the end of 1935.

The new building created a Y shape enclosing the original structure between its two wings.

The advent of the Social Security Act in the mid-1930s created provisions for some of the unfortunate who were unable to garner basic necessities, as the facility turned its focus on mental health care and treatments.

In 1948, through an act of the state legislature, the name of the facility was changed to the Brown County Hospital.

In January 1968, another addition was completed with the help of a $675,000 federal construction grant.

In October 1972, the Brown County Board adopted an ordinance for the creation of the “Brown County Health Center.”

“The ordinance, which will bring the treatment of mental disorders, alcoholism and drug abuse under one governing board and a centralized administration, was approved on a 30-12 vote with one supervisor excused,” an article in Press-Gazette stated.

In 2002, the county board hit the pause button on a new $32 million facility that had already been approved — opting for the idea of privatization.

In 2004, a task force recommended killing the idea altogether in favor of downsizing and renovation.

In 2005, the county saw the need for the remodeling of the aging facility but fell two votes short of approval.

With the cost of renovating estimated at $18-$30,000 and building new $13-$28,000, many may have found it hard to justify.

In October 2006, the county board voted 18-7 to close another section of the mental health center, and in 2009, the mental health center was replaced last year by a new facility — the Community Treatment Center at 3150 Gerschwin Drive in Green Bay.

In 2010, the county looked for other options in dealing with the 141,000-square-foot mental health facility at 2900 St. Anthony Drive that would cost $1.1 million to demolish.

However, with no viable buyer coming forward, the building sat vacant, costing the county $18,000 a year to maintain.

In May 2013, the county began seeking bids for the facility’s demolition, and that December, workers began to raze the structure.
All that remains of the facility today is the “paupers’ graveyard” filled with the unmarked graves of those the county could not identify and placed there and those who once roamed the halls of the poor house.