The Village was designed to be self-sustaining, complete with agricultural, food processing, and power generating capabilities, with patients providing much of the labor. In the s, the thousand-plus-acre Village housed more than patients and staff in more than buildings.
It was a model of progressive institutional care in the United States, and because the Village demonstrated that epileptics could lead productive and meaningful lives, it is a landmark in the treatment of epilepsy. Reflecting this importance, the Epilepsy Foundation has shown interest in establishing a museum at the site. As treatment for epilepsy improved, the Village lost its mission.
Its closure in inaugurated several decades of decline, during which the institution served patients with severe psychiatric or developmental problems. The project is complicated by numerous environmental issues including former leaking underground storage tanks, an ash landfill, and contaminated soil and groundwater.
JMS performed the following services for Montgomery Township:. The restoration of the site was complicated by the presence of a Township elementary school adjacent to dilapidated buildings slated for demolition. JMS provided supplementary air quality monitoring during demolition work to demonstrate that controls were effective. The institution was considered to be an exemplary and progressive facility targeted at the treatment of epileptics.
In later years, namely throughout the Great Depression and World War II , the State Village suffered from financial cutbacks, which resulted in understaffing and overcrowding of the facilities. With the advent of new prescription medications during the late s, the State Village for Epileptics became obsolete by the early s.
With the aid of these new medications, many of the residents of the institution were able to function more efficiently within normal society, and were ultimately able to reintegrate themselves into the mainstream population.
This new institution focused on treatment and research of alcoholics, drug-addicts, people with cerebral palsy, and emotionally disturbed children. The State of New Jersey closed down the facility in , with the very last of the patients being removed in By this time, the facility had been designated as the North Princeton Developmental Center.
On January 23, , Montgomery Township purchased the acre 1. Many hazardous materials are still on-site which make the property uninhabitable. Most of these contaminants remain from the use of oil and coal heating systems, as well as the power plant, both of which were used by the facilities prior to condemnation.
The Township has also encountered large amounts of asbestos in the buildings which has proven to make the restoration exponentially more difficult and costly.
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