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Building K, shown here under construction in 1922, was the first men’s dormitory built at the Belchertown State School. Originally designed for 145 beds, it eventually became the notorious men’s “back ward” and was demolished in 1977. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. Early school administrators insisted that much of the labor performed by residents was done in the spirit of play rather than work. “Kill the Kaiser” was a game invented by Arthur Westwell, the school’s dentist, for clearing a field of stones. Boys would pick up stones in a given area and throw them at an effigy of Kaiser Wilhelm until all of the stones were collected near the effigy, and then “bury” the Kaiser by piling the stones into a makeshift marker. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. [3.234.253.152] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 07:24 GMT) The entrance to Belchertown State School’s first administration building, completed in 1928. One of the women’s dormitories, Building D, can be seen in the distance. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. Dinner in one of the women’s buildings in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Food was prepared for residents at a central kitchen and delivered to the various dormitories. Note the Buster Brown haircuts on most of the women—the preferred style because it was said to be easier for the staff to do than anything else. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. [3.234.253.152] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 07:24 GMT) Fourth of July float, 1928. For a quarter century, beginning in 1924, the school staged a yearly Fourth of July parade. Floats, drawn by horses or cattle and manned by school residents, were a regular feature. The parade was watched by school residents and employees and their friends and families, as well as by town dignitaries. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. “Priscilla and John Alden” float, around 1928. The “parading” of residents before the town may have disturbing undertones for modern-day observers, but no such discomfort was expressed at the time. Also unremarked was the irony of residents who were strictly segregated by sex in their daily lives posing as the lovers immortalized in Longfellow’s famous poem. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. Prizes were awarded each year for the best floats. The second-place winners in this photo, taken around 1928, seem to have been part of an Indian-themed float. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. [3.234.253.152] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 07:24 GMT) For many years the school regularly staged musical productions using resident performers, the most extravagant of which was an annual minstrel show. Anywhere from 36 to 140 residents participated, and the public attended in large numbers. Shown here is a production from the early 1930s, probably the minstrel show; starting in 1928, performances were also staged outside the school for patients at state and veterans’ hospitals in the area. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. A curtain call at a 1930s musical—possibly the minstrel show. Productions were originally staged in a makeshift assembly hall that was part of the school’s laundry building. In 1932 the school built a new schoolhouse with a permanent assembly hall seating twelve hundred. It included a large stage, dressing rooms, storage rooms, and up-to-date stage equipment. —courtesy clapp memorial library, belchertown. Opening day of the school’s carousel, October 17, 1948. The Belchertown State School acquired a Stein & Goldstein carousel for the residents in 1948. It was originally set up in a pine grove beyond the employees’ parking lot but was later relocated to a prefabricated metal pavilion to protect it from inclement weather. After the school closed in 1992, the carousel’s horses were auctioned off and the proceeds deposited in a trust fund to support former residents. —courtesy massachusetts department of developmental services. [3.234.253.152] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 07:24 GMT) James Shanks reported in his 1970 exposé of conditions at Belchertown State School that men slept in large barracks, beds touching head to foot, with only a narrow twelve-inch aisle separating rows. Sometimes residents had to climb over one another to get to and from their beds. —photo © jeff albertson/corbis. reproduced by permission. The state school was closed in 1992. Most of the buildings on the main campus are now boarded or bricked up, abandoned, and overgrown with weeds. Efforts to reuse or redevelop the facility have so far...