More than 400 people recently gathered at the College of Staten Island to commemorate the opening of the Willowbrook Mile — a circular mile of the campus fitted with 12 plaques explaining the history of Willowbrook and celebrating the progress that has been made since its closing.
Willowbrook State School opened in 1947 and quickly became the world’s largest institution for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The institution was built to house 4,000 people, but by the mid 1960s over 6,000 people were being housed at Willowbrook, creating an overly crowded, understaffed and inhumane living situation.
