From 1955 to 1992, the Gaebler Children’s Center in Waltham, MA served the severely mentally ill children referred to the Metropolitan State Hospital. It closed due to budgetary reasons and as part of the general trend away from institutionalization. Today it sits on a large parcel of state-owned land which includes not just the hospital grounds but also numerous walking trails and nature preserves.
It was not a nice place to be a teenager.
