≤•≥ † MY HΞΔRT: EVIL

Friday

Half Abandoned, Half In Use, Fully Spooky

Fernald School, Waltham, Ma.

Used to be the State Emergency Center and now the Department of Retardation Center.

Across the street from the old State Hospital which is now closed.

History

Social reformer Samuel Gridley Howe founded the school in 1848 with a $2,500

appropriation from the Legislature. Records of Dr. Howe and the beginnings

of mental retardation services in the United States reside in Fernald’s

Howe Library. Under its first resident superintendent, Walter E. Fernald

(1887-1924), the school became a model educational facility in the field

of mental retardation.

In addition to developing the school, Dr. Fernald

promoted greater public awareness of mental retardation by participating

in national conferences, including two World fairs. In 1925, the Legislature

passed a bill officially naming the school the Walter E. Fernald State

School. Since then, dramatic improvements have taken place in the quality

of individual's lives, and in the quality of services they receive. In

1993, due to the concern and lobbying efforts of many Fernald parents,

The Fernald Center merged with the Metro Boston Region with a focus on

opportunities in the community for individuals to live and work.

Scarier History

Lawyers have filed a $60 million federal lawsuit against MIT, Quaker Oats and several doctors at the Fernald School in Waltham, charging that they exposed institutionalized children to radioactive materials in research intended to give Quaker Oats a competitive advantage over its rival, Cream of Wheat.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 15 people used as test subjects at the Fernald School in the 1940s and 1950s, charges that the researchers tricked the children into participating in hazardous experiments by telling them they were part of a "science club."

info creds; www.highbeam.com, www.fernaldassociation.com/fernaldCenter.htm