Former Maryland hospital with traumatic past to turn into place for education, healing

Anne Arundel County leaders are one step closer to making Crownsville Hospital a place for education and healing. 

But securing a brighter future for the hospital's grounds, which has seen much tragedy and injustice, means honoring its past.

Crownsville Hospital opened in 1911 as a Black psychiatric hospital until it was desegregated in 1963. 

Patients were subjected to neglect, poor living conditions and even violence. It closed in 2004.

Bowie State University President Dr. Amnita Breaux and Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman signed a memorandum of understanding for programming at Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park.

"We have now a partner that is going to bring young voices, Black voices, academic voices into this process that has a history with Crownsville Center," Pittman said.

"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.

A master planning process has been underway since the county acquired the 500-acre complex from the state in 2022.

"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 said.

Pittman says the partnership with Bowie State will bring educational programming, research, internships and health and wellness initiatives to the new Crownsville Memorial Park. 

"One day, as everyone drives past, they're going to know the history and say, 'I want to be a part of the future and making this a brighter place to be," Breaux said.

Pittman says they hope to have the initial draft plan for Crownsville Memorial Park ready by the fall before it goes out for public review.