Can Anything Save Alabama's Most Endangered Historic Site?

     The Searcy Mental Hospital near Fort Deposit Alabama was named one of the most significant endangered Historic site in America by The National Trust for Historic Preservation one year ago today.
     The property was the site of one of 13 U.S. Army Arsenals in 1828!
     Geronimo was "kept" there in the 1880's before he and other Native Americans were sent on what became known as the "Trail of Tears to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he died."
     It was established as the location of a mental hospital in 1902. It was called the Mount Vernon Hospital for the Colored Insane. Till the 1970's in Alabama, anyone could have another person committed to the facility. Imagine the times that happened to black Alabamians who had no mental illness!


Here's the full list of endangered sites for 2019:
The 2019 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places (in alphabetical order):

• Ancestral Places of Southeast Utah. Located between two national monuments—Bears Ears and Canyons of the Ancients—this area of Southeast Utah is one of the most culturally rich but imperiled landscapes in America. If left unprotected, thousands of irreplaceable artifacts—some dating back 8,000 years—would remain threatened by the damaging impacts of oil and gas extraction.
• Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge. Bismarck, ND. Built in 1883 using state-of-the-art construction methods, the majestic rail bridge was the first to span the Upper Missouri River. Rather than demolish the bridge as proposed, advocates believe this treasured landmark could be retained and reused as a pedestrian bridge.
• The Excelsior Club. Charlotte, NC. A leading private social club for African Americans in the Southeast and a noted Green Book site since it opened in 1944, the club once hosted luminaries like Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong, but now needs significant repairs and could be lost unless new owners are found.
• Hacienda Los Torres. Lares, Puerto Rico. Built in 1846 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Hacienda Los Torres helps tell the history of economic development, class conflict, and political struggle in Puerto Rico. Built at the height of Puerto Rico's flourishing coffee industry, the structure embodies architectural characteristics, materials, and craftsmanship of Puerto Rico's 19th-century coffee haciendas.
• Industrial Trust Company Building. Providence, RI. Dubbed the “Superman Building” due to its resemblance to the Daily Planet building from Superman comics, the iconic Art Deco tower—Rhode Island’s tallest—has been vacant for six years and has no current rehabilitation plans.
• James R. Thompson Center. Chicago, Ill. Chicago’s foremost example of grandly scaled Postmodernism, the Helmut Jahn-designed Thompson Center—the ‘youngest’ building ever to appear on this list—is threatened by a sale that could lead to its demolition.
• Mount Vernon Arsenal and Searcy Hospital, Mount Vernon, Ala. Continually occupied and in use for over 200 years—as an arsenal, a prison, and later a mental hospital for African Americans—this complex closed in 2012 and currently sits vacant and awaiting preservation and reuse plans.
• Nashville’s Music Row. Nashville, Tenn. This district of late-19th-century homes and small-scale commercial buildings contains more than 200 music-related businesses that have produced chart-topping recordings in multiple genres for generations. Nashville’s booming economy and Music Row’s proximity to downtown have made it a hot market for new development, resulting in 50 demolitions since 2013 and threatening the sustainability and survival of the heart and soul of Music City.
• National Mall Tidal Basin. Washington, D.C. The millions of tourists who throng to “America’s Front Yard” every year may not realize that it’s threatened by rising sea levels, unstable sea walls, and outdated infrastructure. It’s estimated that as much as $500 million is needed to upgrade and maintain one of the most popular and visited sites in the National Park System.
• Tenth Street Historic District. Dallas, Texas. One of the rare remaining Freedmen’s towns in America, this vital piece of Lone Star State history is being eroded by large numbers of demolitions.
• Willert Park Courts. Buffalo, NY. The first public housing project in New York State made available to African American residents and a notable example of Modern design, the historic complex is currently vacant and deteriorating but could be revitalized as much-needed affordable housing.

     Last November 22nd, I was given a tour of the site by two people who know it well. The facility's former police chief, David Robinson, and the ADMH's historian, Steve Davis. Many of the buildings are in such a state of decay that one has to wonder if it can be saved at all. 


2019

1935

The Mortuary at the Searcy Mental Hospital complex, where  bodies of deceased patients were brought.

     There are two cemeteries on the property. It is estimated two thousand people are buried in them, people who's families did not claim the bodies.

Some bottled chemicals remain in the mortuary

The church at Searcy, built with private funds.

 Geronimo, on the far right, at the U.S. Army arsenal in the 1880's.

The basement room where Geronimo lived in Alabama.

      Geronimo and other Native Americans at the arsenal site in the late 1800's were eventually sent to Oklahoma in what became the Trail of Tears. Geronimo died at Fort Sill.

The chapel at Searcy Mental Hospital.

Searcy was closed on Halloween in 2012.
There is already security on the property, but it is increased each year around that holiday because of the nature of the ruins.