Grafton State Hospital

The Grafton State Hospital is a super creepy abandoned mental hospital complex in Grafton, Massachusetts. The Grafton State Hospital was founded in 1901 as a farm colony for “chronic insane patients” of the Worcester State Hospital. Administrative separation from Worcester took place in 1912.

The Grafton site was created to expand the Worcester hospital’s capacity as well as to give patients access to therapeutic activities. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts acquired roughly 700 acres (280 ha) of land in northeast Grafton and bordering areas of Shrewsbury to build the new hospital. Agriculture played a significant role in the hospital’s self-sufficiency strategy. Too much agriculture focus ensued and the state came to the conclusion in 1945 that there was little or no occupational therapy in action. Farming, canning, and general maintenance became the institution’s chief vocations as the agricultural focus grew and other treatment modalities deteriorated.

Thelonious Monk, a well-known jazz musician, was briefly detained for observation in the Grafton State Hospital in 1957. This happened after a State Trooper discovered him acting strangely at Logan Airport. Monk became unconscious when questioned.

When Dr. Sevinsky was accused of raping several of the patients, the facility was forced to close in 1973. The first in a string of closures of state hospitals in Massachusetts was the Grafton State Hospital. This is the deinstitutionalization process.

The hospital area was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 due to its importance in the development of mental health care, as well as its design and institutional architecture.

Many of the hospital buildings have been renovated or destroyed. But several remain and are spread out across the 700 acres. Be sure to check out the abandoned Grafton State Hospital Tower nearby!

Specs

• Year Established: 1901
• Year Abandoned: 1973
• Original Function: Mental hospital
  

Location

• Address: Pine Street 
• Town: Grafton
• State: Massachusetts
• GPS: Lat 42.25039 Lng -71.6847357
• Parking notes: N/A not open to public
• Parking directions: N/A not open to public
• Location directions: HERE