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Built in 1903, the morgue sits in a
valley to the south of the main hospital complex and just west of
the water works. Besides its obvious use of holding the bodies of
deceased patients until they would be examined, buried, or sent
home, it also contained a pathology laboratory on the second floor.
On the first floor was an autopsy table as well as coolers. A tunnel
connects to the rear of the first floor and runs into the hill side.
At the end of the tunnel is an elevator that connects to the
basement of the female convalescent building. The second floor lab
was quite possibly the most elaborate of any in the Pennsylvania
state hospital system at the time of its construction. Even after
the new morgue building was finished, Superintendent Henry Orth
continued to upgraded the pathological work being done at the
hospital. The placement of the morgue in the valley near the water
works was no accident. During the early twentieth century one of the
biggest responsibilities of the pathologist was to conduct regular
tests on the hospital water supply and to make sure the sewage
disposal plant was functioning properly. The Pathologist in 1915 was
a man by the name of Walter E. Kiefer. That year new Reagents
Glassware and a centrifuge of 3,000 revolutions per minute were
purchased for the lab. Also that year 78 Wassermann tests were
conducted on blood and spinal fluids to test for Syphilis. The morgue
suffered a fire in the late 20th century that was set by a
patient, fortunately the damage to the building was rather limited. Today (2010) the building
still appears almost exactly as it did when it was built. Other than
several boxes of pipe insulation that are being stored on the first
floor, the interior is almost like walking into a time capsule. The
second floor lab, although missing all the glass bottles, beakers
and other testing equipment, still looks just like it did in 1915.
Because of numerous attempt by people to break into the building
after the hospital closed, all the windows have been boarded up and
a new, stronger door was put on the building as well as a steel gate. All of the equipment that was in the building, including the coolers,
were sold when the hospital closed. The tunnel that leads out the
rear of the first floor to the basement of the female
convalescent building has been sealed off just before
the elevator by a cinder block wall. The future of this building is
uncertain, there are no definite plans by the state to either reuse
or demolish it. More than likely it will continue to sit vacant
until something unfortunate happens to it, like a fire or collapse.
Most recently the building was used in May of 2010 as one of the
sets for the show Ghost Lab which will air on the Discovery Channel
for season two of the show. |
