Once a TB Ward, Turned to a Prison, and Finally Left to Decay
Once a tuberculosis sanatorium, converted to a medium-security state correctional institution.
Early history
In the early 1900s, Samuel G. Dixon – Pennsylvania’s Commissioner of Health – had been searching for locations in the mountains to place a tuberculosis hospital. He was seeking a location here specifically due to the benefits of open air and exercise to combat the disease. He had eventually stumbled into a section of land purchased years before by Andrew Carnegie, one of the early leaders of the expansion of the American steel industry. Carnegie had selected this piece of land along the front range of the Allegheny Mountains to build a mansion for his mother. Unfortunately she had died before the construction started, and the land remained empty.
Dixon asked Carnegie about possible interest in selling the land so that he could build the hospital. Carnegie offered to donate the property if the state would build a suitable sanatorium on the grounds. After reaching an agreement, Carnegie sold the land to the Commonwealth for $1 in the year 1911.
Dixon began designing a layout for what would eventually become the Allegheny Tuberculosis Sanatorium. His plans included a central administration building, dining building, and east wing, which all connected by interior corridors. Twenty cottages were built as well as four open pavilions, a powerhouse, laundry facilities, a barn, and a poultry house. These earlier structures were mostly built in the Tudor Revival style.
Opens as a sanatorium
In January of 1913, the sanatorium had officially opened its doors. Patients had started to be accepted during December 1912. Even after its official opening date, construction was still being done on some facilities, leaving some patients to be admitted to the dining building. It wasn’t until June that the construction would come to completion.
The ideal treatment for tuberculosis at the time was plenty of fresh air, a diet high in ascorbic acid, vitamin A and protein, and lots of rest. There were later some other treatments, such as pneumothorax treatments. During these treatments, they would partially or completely collapse a lung by introducing air into the pleural cavity, giving the lung a chance to rest and heal.
With a rapid rise in the number of children being admitted to the sanatorium, also came a rise in the need for an educational facility. Seeing this need to build a small school, construction quickly began and the structure was completed in 1915. A patient who had previously been a teacher was placed in charge. Soon after, a playground was placed on the grounds as children now occupied 10 of the 12 wards in the West Wing. The original schoolhouse was also moved nearer to the playground, and two other one-room schools were built, but eventually replaced by two four-room buildings.
Over the following years, more buildings were added, such as a training school for nurses in 1919, a children’s playhouse with a swimming pool and play space in 1921 and 1922, and a 122-bed children’s house and nursery in 1932.
1940s through 1970s
In the 1940s the drug streptomycin was developed, leading to the decline of tuberculosis related illness and death in the United States. The drug was created in October 1943 by Albert Schatz, a Ph.D. student in a laboratory at Rutgers University as part of a research project funded by Merck and Company. By 1947, streptomycin was beginning to be given to patients at Allegheny. People in the younger age range became less prevalent as patients, and admittance had dropped mainly to those of older age groups. Due to a lack of younger patients, the children’s house closed in August of 1950. However, more additions were made over the next year including a social service department, rehabilitation department, vocational training school and an occupational therapy department. Also in 1950, a modern surgical unit was integrated in place of the former children’s playhouse. By 1952, a medical services unit had been added, adjoining the J and K wards in the East Wing.
In December 1956, the Allegheny Tuberculosis Sanatorium would undergo a name change, becoming the Allegheny State Hospital. The hospital specialized in treating patients with severe mental disorders. It later became the Allegheny State School and Hospital in 1964. During this time, patients were admitted not only for severe mental disorder, but various intellectual disabilities as well. The complex was again renamed in 1970 to the Cresson Center. Â Twelve years later, Cresson Center shuttered its doors, as plans were announced to convert the former psychiatric center into a prison.
Converted to a medium-security correctional institution
Two years passed, and work finally began in 1984 to turn the old state hospital into SCI Allegheny. This medium-security state correction institution was completed in 1987, and cost $20.6 million. Some wings of the original buildings were removed, but most of the original structure from the tuberculosis era remained.
It would be many years before another addition was made to the complex. In 2006, J Block, a 256-cell building was constructed at the cost of $8.6 million.
Facility shuts down
After 27 years of operation, it was announced on January 8, 2013, that the facility would be closing in June. The official closing date ended up being June 30th, 2013. The Cresson Secure Treatment Unit was closed in August 2016.
In 2014, Energy Management stepped in, proposing the construction of a natural gas plant taking up 93 acres of the former SCI property. Negotiations began in May of 2016, and the county finally authorized timber harvesting at the site in preparation for other operations. The company however pulled out of the project on January 12, 2017.
2016 – 2020
In December of 2016, a local businessman placed a $600,000 bid for the 326-acre area of land. He was one of four bidders competing for the site and emerged with the highest bid. There had been previous attempts to sell the prison and land, but all auctions failed when no bidder met the $730,000 minimum bid price. The state then dropped the minimum bid to $500,000.
With the cost of restoring/remediating the facility and grounds, or demolishing the structures being upwards of $15 million, it’s hard to say what may come of the property, or if it will simply sit vacant, rotting from the inside out.
