POLK, Pa. (EYT) – After 126 years of operation, Polk Center has officially closed its doors as a state-run institution.
(Photo above: Polk Center as seen on May 1, 2023.)
At 3:00 p.m. on Monday, May 1, most of the last employees of Polk Center turned in their badges, keys, and parking passes. A small stay-behind crew and staff with special work assignments will continue to manage the site, according to a letter that was sent to staff last week from The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services secretary, Kevin Dressler.
Calls to the DHS press office for information regarding the remaining employees were not returned.
The care of the center’s 27 remaining residents has been handed over to Verland Community Living Arrangements, based in Sewickley. The company will utilize one building on campus to care for the residents until four group homes are constructed in the area.
According to Verland’s CEO Bill Harriger, the company plans to build the homes in a 15- to 20-mile radius of Polk Center.
As of April 11, Verland had hired 124 Polk Center staff to work at its Western Pennsylvania facilities. When asked for updated numbers, Harriger was unavailable for comment.
According to DHS’s website, in 1893, the then-Pennsylvania Governor Robert E. Pattison appointed a commission to locate a site in Northwestern Pennsylvania for the creation of an “Institution for the Feeble-Minded,” with the goal of extending the state’s capacity to care for people with intellectual disabilities. At that time, only one such institution existed in the Commonwealth, the Elwyn School, located in the eastern part of the state.
After thorough deliberation, the Polk site was ultimately chosen due to its abundance of natural resources, fertile farmland, and convenient access to railways.
In the spring of 1897, Polk Center opened its doors to the first residents, with a 2,000-acre campus featuring buildings designed in accordance with the architectural theory of Dr. Thomas Kirkbride, in which each room was granted access to sun and fresh air, the proposed therapy of the day.
In 1955 the census at Polk Center exceeded 3,400 persons. This number dropped to 3,000 in 1970 and has continued to decline over the next decades following the advent of more community-based services.
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