Pennhurst State Hospital Gets $4 Million Redevelopment Grant

EAST VINCENT, PA — The state announced a new round of funding for 96 acres of the former Pennhurst State Hospital. The money will be used toward redeveloping the land as a business park.

The hospital, previously owned by the state, had been conveyed to East Vincent Township in 2009. At that time officials hoped the asylum would become a public park.

“I look forward the development of a new, spacious park that can be enjoyed by all Chester County residents and, in so doing, closing this dark chapter in Pennsylvania’s history – the past treatment of those with physical and mental disabilities,” State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) said in a statement at the time.

Gov. Wolf's office recently announced that project has been granted $4 million for the project to improve the grounds, build roads, and execute necessary demolition.

Pennhurst opened as a treatment facility for individuals with mental and physical disabilities in 1906. It was shut down in 1987.

Patch file photo