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"The very first day of leaving him there, it was just like somebody tore my heart out," recalls Steve Ward. His son Steven entered Muscatatuck State Developmental Center around 1990. Steven was 14 and had had a brain tumor since the age of two,…

"We had three boys and five girls and they literally thought they owned the place." Ann Bishop came to Muscatatuck in September of 1954. She started as a head nurse, became assistant director of nursing, and then was a module director/mental health…

“One of the first things that she said was ‘I want a lawyer.’” Patty Cook recounts her experience with a teenager who had severe cerebral palsy and had been given a communication device for the first time. Patty was first hired at Muscatatuck State…

Building No. 22 was built around 1940 to house women working as attendants at Muscatatuck State School, as the institution became known in 1941. (Prior to that year, it was known as the Indiana Farm Colony for Feeble-Minded Youth.) Male and female…

Building No. 12 was constructed in 1940 at a cost of $31,644. It remained in use as an administration building for Muscatatuck State Developmental Center until the Center's closure in 2005. The institution, located in Butlerville, Indiana, became…

This photo of the entrance to Muscatatuck State Developmental Center was taken in 2005. That was the same year the institution closed, the last person living at Muscatatuck having been placed into a community residence on April 22, 2005. The Center…

“It was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life.” In the 1970s, Bonnie Smith was having difficulties providing care at home for her adolescent son Brooks. After seeking assistance, it was determined Brooks would go to Indiana's Madison State Hospital.…

“In terms of children being admitted, I assisted with some admissions of children. I’m not proud of that,” states Sue Beecher. In the late 1970s, Sue worked in the outpatient clinic at New Castle State Hospital and assisted with placing children…

“Muscatatuck was decertified and lost their ICF/MR certification that they'd had for about 20 years. And that was considerable revenue loss. And so, a decision was made through some -- a lot of discussion to -- that Muscatatuck would be closed.”…

Dr. Sue Gant has 40 plus years of working in the disability field. As an expert with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation, Dr. Gant spent the late 1990s through 2008 in Indiana assisting with the closure of New…