Sojourn 2021: Other Prairie Places and Spaces- Vinita, Ok

 Vineta, OK

Yes Vineta was a planned drive by. It was dusk and we had been on the road for hours, but per my curious mind, I had to visit at least one facility that treated folks with illnesses of the mind.

When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the mentally ill first were cared for through contract with private sanitariums. In Indian Territory, Cherokee Nation had maintained an asylum at Park Hill.

Eastern State Hospital (not a very original name as there are at least 3 others that I know have that name across the US), originally named Eastern Oklahoma Hospital for the Insane was opened in 1909 on a 160 acre tract of land and operated for almost 100 years, shuttering its doors in 2008. 

The administration building was designed by architect AJ Love, who built more than 150 schools, hospitals, and other structures in northeastern Oklahoma (including a WPA project High School we went in search of in Osage County, and some Art Deco buildings in Tulsa). The administration building was built in 1922.

The first buildings were completed in 1911 (a male and a female building) and 300 patients transferred from the overcrowded hospital in Norman, OK. 

"The first patients were received on January 28, 1913, when 300 people were transferred by special train from the Oklahoma Sanitorium at Norman. The special train was unloaded at a siding designated "Asylum Spur," a little more than a mile south of the hospital."

Eastern State Hospital 

Ths Center is for: Pretrial defendants deemed incompetent for adjudication and individuals adjudicated as Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI)/Not Guilty by Reason of Mental Illness (NGRMI).

The OK Forensic Center started as the sole facility in 2003, and there is now a new blg. constructed in 2008. 

Prior to the Forensic Center, the population here had declined quite a bit. By the 1990's the hospital became a facility for inmates with mental illness. New wards were built and by 2008, the entire place was a Dept. of Corrections facility.

Of course there are creepy stories that make the news. Here is one:

Escape from Vinita for the 2nd Time!

A 2nd, unfounded tale is that this facility may have had a hand in the forced sterilization of Native American woman in the 1970's.

Eugenics + The Sterilization of Native American Women

Outpatient services started in the 1960's and over time programs began to close. The dairy went in 1968, and all farming was phased out in the early 1970's. Some buildings are in better shape than others on the campus. We drifted toward the more rundown and clearly uninhabited as we searched for a brick (b/c yes sometimes it is all about the brick).

Except for a small portion of use for Dept. of Corrections (which has a new facility somewhere on the grounds), most of the buildings have sat deserted and vacant for years.

Broken windows, cracked sidewalks, and nature reclaiming her land.

The cottages were the most intriguing to me. Who lived in them? Was there ever a point system instituted here and those with the consistently "Higher" behavior points allowed to move to the cottages? Or were the cottages for dr.'s and nurses and their families? 

This building looks older than it really is. That's what happens when things are abandoned and neglected.

The Hays Treatment Center was named after a the Assistant Superintendent P.I. Hayes and built in 1960 to be a medical center. There were folks with tuberculosis that were also treated on the grounds.

Of course I had to peek inside. There really was not a soul in sight. It was kind of creepy as the day slipped away into night and here I was sneaking peeks into this abandoned facility.

Indeed- I couldn't quite make out the "No Trespassing" sign b/c it was blocked by this nicely ornamented wrought-iron gate.

I wonder what is to come for this blighted property? Already the decay is pretty evident after only 13 years.

This peek in really intrigued me. What was this room? And is this wallpaper? Or did someone paint this? 

Forever a mystery. I bet somebody around here knows the answer, except there was nobody around here.

All sorts of little tidbits on the facility, but no mention of the cottages. Maybe they were for the folks with tuberculosis?

As we drove onto this street, on the right was this neat and tidy-looking row of 5 or 6 cottages. However, as you can see, up close they are pretty dilapidated. 

As we drove out, I tried to get a wider picture to show how big the place is. Peak population served was about 2,600.

Here is a map of that gives an aerial view:

...and from somewhere down there, from one of the crumbling old abandoned buildings came this:

Because sometimes it is just all about the bricks!

The original land for the hospital was donated by prominent banker Samuel Sylvester Cobb (a mixed race Cherokee by marriage on his mother's side). The donation included the original Cobb family home (which was on the state hospital grounds, but was torn down). As we left the hospital grounds and were driving down the road, we came upon this last structure. A nod to the Cobb family? A school run by the hospital? Did some super special children get to go to a "superior model" Cobb School? I couldn't find anything on it.

As we drove out of the "country" and into the downtown area of Vinita, it felt like we were in a time warp. Many things looked old and worn down.

We did a double take at this one. S&H Green Stamps! For real, for now!?

Yes we were tired and weary from being on the road, but now that we had hit Rt. 66, we were waving bye-bye to Vinita and getting out of town-fast. Besides, doesn't it look like there is some sort of undercover operation going on at this Inn? My mind went to illegal meth labs (even if I hadn't watched a single show of Breaking Bad and we weren't in New Mexico).