Ypsilanti State Hospital
The Ypsilanti State Hospital housed and treated patients for mental health disorders. The hospital complex was located at the northeast corner of Platt and Willis Roads, in York Charter Township; one mile south of the boundary with Pittsfield Charter Township and two miles west of the Augusta Charter Township boundary. The City of Saline was four miles due west of the hospital on Willis Road, while the City of Milan was five miles due south on Platt Road. The hospital, which was three miles from the point where York and Ypsilanti charter townships meet, was called "Ypsilanti" because the area is served by the Ypsilanti telephone exchange.
History
On June 16, 1930, construction for the hospital had begun. Albert Kahn was the architect that had designed the building. Kahn had his own design firm in Detroit, Michigan. The hospital was opened a year after construction had begun. Over the course of the first year the hospital had admitted 922 patients. The estimated cost of living was about eighty cents per day.At the end of World War II The Ypsilanti State Hospital had built two new buildings with over 4,000 patients. After adding the two wards, this still brought the hospital over capacity.
In 1991, Governor John Engler cut all funding for state hospitals. The Ypsilanti State Hospital was the first to be shut down. The forensic center stayed open until 2001, but when the hospital closed this left many patients homeless. They were left with nothing, most of the patients having lost all contact with family and friends. The Ypsilanti State Hospital had been abandoned for sixteen years before being demolished in 2006.
Toyota bought the property to develop the Toyota Technical Center on the site, and all remnants of the hospital complex are gone.