The Kings Park Psychiatric Center had sat in abandonment since 1996 when the state of New York permanently closed the facility that first opened in 1885. What was once an economic engine for the Hamlet of Kings Park now stands largely idle as a testament to a previous era of healthcare once hailed as revolutionary.
Since the park’s 368 acres were added to the Nissequogue River State Park, there has been much debate on what to do with the remaining buildings and much of the land. Community members and policymakers all have conceptions for the future of the park.
Given the, at times, confusion over the future of the park and the level of community interest, a group called Preserve the Kings Parks Psychiatric Center (PKPPC) was founded to serve as a conduit for the local community.
PKPPC is a local not-for-profit designed to gauge and foster community input and create transparency surrounding the project. They do this through surveys and the dissemination of information. While they are not affiliated with any governmental entity, they cooperate closely with and have met with politicians of all stripes to advocate for the future of the park.
While they advocate for the park, the group does not come in with pre-stated objectives. Instead, they aim to pay homage to the history of the center that was once so vital for the surrounding communities and indeed continues to play an important role as a recreational park.
And at some point, their “goal is to get a public-private partnership or stewardship arrangement with parks to oversee… the management of a museum or some of the mitigation management strategies of the park” that they have proposed, said Robyn Stanton.
These mitigation strategies are meant to mitigate the loss of buildings, historical context as well as environmental degradation, among other concerns people have voiced through their surveying and working groups.
Jackie Kalafut described one such mitigation project, which would entail planting a garden in the outline of the long-demolished Building 10. The site would come complete with a historical marker or board explaining the site that would explain its purpose, satisfying many competing interests within the park.
Currently, the organization is now working in collaboration with another group that some might be more familiar with, the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation, an umbrella group of organizations and community members that advocates for the park.
Recently, on June 6, they held a pop-up exhibit focused on York Hall at the 13th Annual 5K Sunset Run/Walk at the Nissequogue River State Park, one such example of the two groups’ collaboration.
At the pop-up exhibit, attendees were educated on the historic York Hall – currently being renovated through a generous donation by the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation and the Charles and Helen Reichert Family Foundation. PKPPC received tremendous feedback on York Hall, with many wanting to see York Hall used for live music and theatrical productions, film and cinema, rental space for private events, space for community-oriented activities, and educational purposes.
Given York Hall’s history as a place where patients at the KPPC once entertained themselves, not much has changed in what people want to get out of the building. Of course, the site of a former mental hospital presents some unique challenges, challenges PKPPC is cognizant of respecting.
Both Stanton and Kalafut expressed as much when they described how tourism to the site, while potentially lucrative for the surrounding area, cannot whitewash stories or attempt to sensationalize mental health. The literature put out by the organization is very clear to respect the fact that KPPC was a mental health facility at a time when mental health was stigmatized.
They plan on having meetings once the Final Plan for the park is released by the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.
To get involved with the organization, you can reach out to them on Facebook and Instagram at ‘PreserveKPPC.’ You can also email them at preservekppc@gmail.com.
