Manteno State Hospital

Opening its doors in 1930, the Manteno State Hospital, located in Illinois, cared for and treated patients who were mentally and physically ill. The hospital was abandoned in 1985, and much of the area has been redeveloped except for one building called the Morgan cottage which was built in 1936. This is a one-story “H” type structure which included 4 wards, 2 commons areas, and in the middle, a dining hall.

On a recent trip back home and sharing with my family I was going to photograph the hospital, my mother smiled and said, “You know… your Grandmother used to be a volunteer there.” Wait… what??? If I wasn’t already excited about photographing this place, I was even more excited to interview my Grandmother about her experiences there. Here’s just one of the stories about a woman named Minnie Klockziem. A patient diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, she hadn’t spoken in years until she met my grandmother. Years later, she passed away at Manteno State Hospital on February 12, 1969.

Click to play the audio clip: minnie