Editor's note: This is an updated version of the story that ran online Wednesday. Comments from DBHDD have been added.
The governor has signed off on the state behavioral health board’s request to demolish four former Central State Hospital buildings.
Three are located in the heart of the campus surrounding the pecan grove. They are the Jones Building, the Green Building and the Walker Building. The fourth is referred to in the executive order as the “Wash House Building,” located behind the Powell Building.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed two executive orders dated Tuesday authorizing the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) to “raze” and “dispose” of the structures. The work could happen as soon as this fall, according to a DBHDD spokesperson.
Kemp’s executive order states that the DBHDD had requested authority to demolish the structures via a June 29 resolution. A slideshow of items presented at the board’s June meeting says that demolition of the buildings “improves property marketability.” In the case of the Green, Jones and Walker Buildings, trespassing issues were also given as reasons for seeking demolition authority.
Upon learning about the governor’s signed executive orders this week, The Union-Recorder asked the DBHDD public affairs office why demolition authority was being sought.
“First, we understand the connection the community has with Central State Hospital and the concern community members have over the protection of the property,” DBHDD communications director Ryan King said in an email response. “DBHDD explored in-depth the alternatives on these properties. Ultimately, it was determined that demolition was the only viable option to mitigate the significant and potentially deadly risk these buildings pose to the public and to create a path for the property to be revitalized.
“In attempts to breathe life back into the Central State Hospital campus through reinvestment and partnerships, the intention is to demolish the Wash House, Walker, Green and Jones buildings. It’s important to understand the Powell Building will remain intact and serve as a centerpiece in potential reinvestment and redevelopment plans.”
King also said that DBHDD will work with the Department of Community Affairs Historic Preservation Division (HPD) “to mitigate the historic impact of the demolition of the buildings." He added some clarity when asked to in a follow-up.
"Consultation with the Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Community Affairs to develop and execute a plan designed to be responsive to the priorities of preserving history," King said. "We are early in that process and cannot at this time say what the ultimate plan would include."
Asked when demolition would be carried out, King responded, “The timeline is to be determined as we’re working through the processes required for demolition. The goal is to complete demolition this fall.”
As for plans for the properties after demolition, King said, “Reinvestment with the Powell Building as a centerpiece will spur and support workforce development, a key to breathing life back into the campus. Central State can ultimately be the site that delivers the training and experience necessary to positively impact the workforce shortage we’re experiencing.”
When asked, the DBHDD spokesman added some clarity on that front as well.
"The Powell Building is a beautiful building with great historical significance, particularly as it pertains to the delivery of healthcare in Georgia," he said. "We are in talks with a potential partner and are hopeful the property can once again be used to serve the healthcare needs of Georgians for years to come."
Built in 1929, it looks as though the Jones Building will not make it to 100 years. Coming in at more than 140,000 square feet, the Jones Building served as the hospital unit, treating Central State patients, employees and local residents. It was in use for about 50 years. After its closure, the Jones Building exterior in 2014 was a filming site for an episode of The CW television series, “The Originals.”
The Green Building sits next door to the Chapel of All Faiths on Swint Avenue. When operational, it housed patients for more than 30 years after its 1947 opening. The facility was named after former hospital superintendent Dr. Thomas F. Green, under whose leadership the patient population rose from 60 to more than 700 in the hospital’s early days as the Georgia Lunatic Asylum. The Green Building was given new purpose for a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s when it was given to Baldwin County for use as the local Department of Children and Family Services and Head Start.
The Walker Building is also on Swint Avenue just south of the Green Building. Built in 1884 and opened for use in 1886, Walker was originally the male convalescent building. It served as an admission ward for white males, and patients were treated there until its closing in 1974.
The “Wash House Building” was formerly used by the Georgia Department of Administrative Services.
All four buildings had chainlink fencing placed around them last October as they underwent asbestos removal. Many in the community took it as a sign that they were on the chopping block for demolition, though DBHDD said at the time that no further work was planned.
“Not currently,” DBHDD assistant commissioner for agency affairs Ashley Fielding told the newspaper in an October phone interview when asked about the possibility of demolition. “What’s under discussion now is how do we mitigate the very real safety risks that those buildings present for the community. There has been some discussion of what those options might be, though there is not any authority to move forward at this point.”
The authority was given by the governor on Tuesday. An executive order is a necessary step for the demolition of a state-owned structure.
King said DBHDD does not have similar demolition plans for other buildings on the Central State campus.
During the 1960s, Central State Hospital housed 12,000 patients and employed 6,000 people on Milledgeville’s south side. It owns a complicated place in both local and state history. Many remember fondly the sense of community forged there when either they or family members worked at Central State. But there’s also the issue of practices that were carried out, among them electroshock therapy and lobotomies, though both were standard psychiatric practices at the time, not just in Georgia.
Complicated history or not, mammoth masonry buildings like Jones, Green and Walker — together measuring nearly 300,000 square feet — were once something, but are now on the path to becoming nothing but a memory due to the state leaving them in decades of disrepair.
Central State’s closure as many in the community knew it can be traced back more than a decade ago. According to reporting by The Union-Recorder, the state of Georgia in October 2010 reached a settlement in a civil case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice alleging the state was violating the civil rights of mental health patients under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The state announced a shift in policy that would place more mental health consumers in community and home settings and the state would more heavily rely on mobile and smaller-scale treatment, rather than institutionalization.
