The Indiana Hospital for the Insane opened on West Washington Street in Indianapolis in 1848 with five patients and closed as Central State Hospital in 1994 with a 160-acre campus. The place languished for years, but it’s on the upswing. On September 26, Indiana Landmarks stages Seeking Asylum: Preservation at Central State, a behind-the-scenes tour of the historic campus.
Visitors on the two-hour walking tour will see three of the landmarks that remain. At the 1896 Old Pathology Building, home of the Indiana Medical History Museum — an entry on Indiana Landmarks’ Ten Most Endangered list this year — participants will see the one-of-a-kind collections and learn about the preservation challenges it faces. The tour also takes in two repurposed buildings: the 1938 Administration Building, renamed Central State Mansion, houses IUPUI students, and the turn-of-the-century dining hall that has reopened as 1899, an events venue. The walking tour will pass by two derelict structures with potential — the 1886 power house and the laundry — that need imaginative new uses.
The guided two-hour tour requires a ticket in advance. Tours leave every fifteen minutes from 9 to 10 a.m., departing from Indiana Medical History Museum, 3045 West Vermont Street in Indianapolis.
COST: Tickets are $20 per person; $15 per person for members of Indiana Landmarks or the Medical History Museum.
Email: tourism@indianalandmarks.org
2015/09/26 - 2015/09/26
Indiana Medical History Museum
3045 W. Vermont St, Indianapolis, IN 46222