Community helps plan transformation at site of Maryland's notorius Crownsville Hospital
BALTIMORE -- Anne Arundel County held a third public workshop meeting Thursday to compile community input about the future of the former Crownsville Hospital site.
The facility opened in 1911 as a Black psychiatric hospital until it was desegregated in 1963. Patients there were subjected to neglect and poor living conditions. It closed in 2004.
The county acquired the deed from the State of Maryland for the 500-acre property in 2022.
The meeting to discuss the master plan was held at Rolling Knolls Elementary School from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Some options being weighed for the open space could include multi-purpose trails, sports fields, a community center and a place for people to meditate, reflect and learn.
"It has to be for positive use," Nancy O'Donald said.
In May 2024, Bowie State University's President Dr. Amnita Breaux and Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman signed a memorandum of understanding for programming Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park.
Pittman believes the partnership with Bowie State will bring educational programming, research, internships, health and wellness initiatives to the new Crownsville Hospital Park.
"Members of the BSU campus community had an opportunity to walk these grounds and to explore how we might best honor the lives of those who lived and who are buried here," Breaux said.
"I see both a public park with wonderful trails and places for families to picnic and then a place for people to learn about the history of what took place here," Pittman told WJZ in May.
The project now moves into the third phase.
"A place that's very sacred, that's spiritual in nature, that's meditative but I also believe that there's a place within the grounds where there could be activity," Diane Phillips LaGuerre said.
Phillips LaGuerre said her father, Dr. George McKenzie Phillips, was the superintendent of the hospital for a time who helped pull the facility out of poor conditions.
"He saw the person first," Phillips LaGuerre said. "It was important to him that these people recognize it was community that they need, it's connections that they need and so, to try to get more people to see, to open their eyes, that those who suffer from mental health challenges are not as alien as they seem. They're really just like you and me."
The draft master plan, which is currently under design and aims to be released in early fall, will include recommendations from the community members.
You can learn more about the project here.