Kirkbride Buildings Blog

Bryce Hospital Cemetery Memorial

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Bryce Hospital Cemetery
On Sunday April 18th, there will be a special ceremony  in honor of those buried in the four cemeteries at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It will take place in the hospital’s chapel at 2PM. Directions and further information can be found in this invitation: Bryce Hospital Cemetery Memorial Dedication Ceremony (1.52MB PDF File).

While relatives of patients, former patients, friends and hospital employees are especially invited, the event is open to the public and all are welcome. Following the ceremony and a reception, there will be a tour of Bryce’s Kirkbride building.

Related to this story is a relatively new web site: Bryce Hospital – Historic Preservation Project. It’s not quite complete, but there’s already a lot of historical data contained there and it’s worth taking a good long look through it. Also included on the site is information about volunteering for or making donations to the historical preservation project.

Wildwood Cemetery Restoration

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Terrell State Hospital

I happened across another story about a graveyard restoration today. This time it’s for Wildwood Cemetery which belongs to Terrell State Hospital: Restoring Dignity to Wildwood Cemetery. Restoration has been ongoing since about 1997. Volunteers have cleaned up the grounds and replaced the numbered headstones with markers bearing the patients’ names. In addition, a decorative fence is being erected around the graveyard.

The volunteer Wildwood Cemetery Association is accepting donations for the project. Information on making a contribution can be found at the end of the article or on the association’s web site (click on “Contribute – Wildwood Cemetery” in the left hand link list).

Unfortunately, I’m not very familiar with Terrell State Hospital, although I do know that the Kirkbride there is long gone. You can see more pictures of the building and learn a bit more of it’s history at the Kaufman County TXGenWeb Project Site.

Warren State Hospital Cemetery Restored

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Warren State Hospital
The 954 grave cemetery at Warren State Hospital has been the subject of a restoration. Like many state hospital cemeteries, this one was overgrown and neglected until a restoration committee formed at the hospital in 2006. Employees and volunteers are just about finished with the painstaking task of identifying the deceased patients and giving each one a headstone with their name on it.

There will be a public rededication ceremony at 10:30AM on Friday, September 26. More information can be found here: Silent Witnesses

Bryce Hospital in the News

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Bryce Hospital
Bryce Hospital has been in the news a bit this March. As mentioned in a previous post, the Bryce campus is likely to be sold to the University of Alabama. If the sale comes to pass, the hospital will move to another location, and the Kirkbride building will become the school’s property. One reader pointed out to me that the university president, Robert Witt, says the historic building will be left standing.

“UA does not have a plan for developing the Bryce property if it were to become part of the university, but Witt said any buildings on the National Historical Registry would be preserved.” (Tuscaloosa News, UA Hires Consultant to Work on Bryce Project) (more…)

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