Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center

The Walter E. Fernald State School, later the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center , was the Western hemisphere's oldest publicly funded institution serving people with developmental disabilities. Originally a Victorian sanatorium, it became a "poster child" for the American eugenics movement during the 1920s. It later was the scene of medical experiments in the 20th century. Investigations into this research led to new regulations regarding human research in children.
The Fernald Center, originally called the Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children, was founded by reformer Samuel Gridley Howe in 1848 with a $2,500 appropriation from the Massachusetts State Legislature. The school eventually comprised 72 buildings total, located on 196 acres . At its peak, some 2,500 people were confined there, most of them "feeble-minded" boys.

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