LIDC: Controversy on the Way In

Growing up on Long Island it was a rite of passage in high school in the late 90s to visit the “abandoned mental institutions” called LIDC (Long Island Developmental Center) and Kings Park. 

Living in Huntington, LIDC was right in our background, and after one visit I knew it was one of the scariest places I had ever visited. And I always wondered just what the story there was, why did it look like everyone just went home from work one day and never came back? 

Why was there still so many medical beds, wheelchairs, and other equipment just sitting there?  And so I decided to do a little research, and discovered that LIDC was surrounded in controversy on the way in and the way out.

When Governor Averill Harriman announced his plans to put a state school for the mentally retarded on 460 acres in Melville, he was immediately met with resistance. The first argument was regarding the loss of tax revenue from putting that much area into tax exempt status, “instead of continuing the carefully nurtured trend in its immediate Melville area toward million dollar industrial assessments.” (Long-Islander, Jan 16., 1958) 

The 460 acres of level farm land was located along the east side of Route 110, bounded on the north by the LIE (then proposed), and on the east by Pinelawn Road, and by Duryea Road on the south.  The Jan. 16, 1958 Long-islander explained, “the $40,000,000 State project would house from 2,300 to 3,000 mentally retarded youths up to 19 years of age from New York City and Long Island.”

At the time of this announcement, 15 separate landowners held land within the proposed site.  Quickly these landowners, in conjunction with the several civic associations in the Melivlle/Dix Hills area began to protest the construction of the school.  According to the Jan. 23, 1958 Long-Islander, “seven civic associations… joined… in a 400 word telegram to protest to Governor Harriman over the [proposed] site…” 

In the telegram they pointed out that taking 460 acres off the tax roles was particularly damaging because 800 acres was taken off for the LIE.  The civic associations, as well as the Huntington Town Board, which was also protesting the selected site, made it very clear that it rejected the site of the school not the school itself.

In response to this opposition, the April 24, 1958  Long-Islander announced that the deputy commissioner of the State Department on mental hygenie would present the State’s reason for it’s selection at a public meeting the following May.  The same week the meeting was announced a petition was circulating opposing the site.

The petition read, amongst other things, “Putting the School for Mentally Retarded Children in this area on 480 acres of land will immediately alter the way that the surrounding areas will develop.  The character of the neighborhood will change.  It can be shown that where hospitals and mental institutions of this type have been built, surrounding property values have seriously depreciated.” (April 24, 1958 Long-Islander)

Officials at the Town of Huntington began to suggest that the land the state already owned in Huntington and Babylon townships was more than sufficient for the school, according to the May 22, 1958 Long-Islander.  The then-Town Board issued a statement discussing the fact that the Planning Board had made recommendations to the State as to the proper location for this school, but were ignored.  Furthermore, “the State already owns… almost 300 acres of land which abuts state hospitals , but on which the school could be located without coming into close proximity with existing mental institutions and without the loss of existing homes.” 

Under these tense circumstances it is no wonder that the presentation made by the state to the residents turned into a battleground.  Several people representing nine civic associations spoke and while half only objected to the exact location of the School, the other half seemed to object to the school in its entirety. 

“At the time it seemed as though the meeting might crystallize its sentiment in some kind of recommendations, but a motion to ask the State to consider a alternate site was tabled after some debate…,” according to the May 22, 1958 Long-Islander. 

And so the long meeting ended with no conclusions being drawn and no resolution in sight.  The local unionized carpenters sent a letter to the Town Board announcing their support for the project, but it seemed they were the only ones who did.  (April 23, 1959 Long-Islander)

Finally, on April 23, 1959 the Long-Islander announced that, “Supervisor Ernest Johnson said he and other officials and representatives of civic groups who met Thursday in New York with the officials of the State of New York came away with a feeling of optimism that the State may reconsider its choice of site for a school for retarded children in Melville.” 

The article goes on to explain that the meeting ended with the state promising to come down in the near future and to reconsider their decision on the location.

So what happened next? Did the State amend their plans and look for a new location?  Tune in next week to find out!