Harlem Valley State Hospital

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{More citations needed|date=August 2007}}

{{Infobox hospital

| name = Harlem Valley State Hospital

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| image = Harlem Valley State Hospital (NY) main entrance, June 2024.jpg

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| caption = Main entrance to the former hospital, now Evangelical Center of Olivet University in June 2024

| coordinates = {{Coord|41.63734|-73.57229|type:landmark|display=inline, title}}

| location = Dover

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| state = New York

| country = US

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| opened = 1924

| closed = 1994

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Harlem Valley State Hospital, south of the hamlet of Wingdale in the town of Dover, was a New York State psychiatric hospital that operated from 1924 to 1994.{{cite web|url=http://harlemvalley.org/harlem/|website=Harlem Valley.Org|title=Harlem Valley State Hospital|access-date=2007-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612233016/http://www.harlemvalley.org/harlem/|archive-date=2007-06-12|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|website=Robbie Knobbie|url=http://robbieknobbie.tripod.com/harlem/harlem.html |title=The Harlem Valley Psychiatric Hospital Page}}

History

The grounds were originally slated to be a correctional facility, Wingdale Prison, but complaints by the local population caused a re-purposing of the buildings (under construction) into a state hospital. It is located on NY 22/55 opposite the Harlem Valley–Wingdale station on the Metro-North Harlem Line.

The hospital was closed in 1994 due to budget cuts and was sold to a Long Island-based housing developer, the Benjamin Companies. However, the Benjamin Companies gave up on its plans to pursue the Dover Knolls project - comprising development of a golf-course housing community surrounded by commercial, office, and retail development - when the Great Recession hit and just before the housing market collapsed.{{cite web|url=http://townofdoverny.us/DoverKnollsHome.cfm |website=Town of Dover, New York|title=Dover Knolls}}{{cite news|work=Poughkeepsie Journal|author=Bradshaw, Sarah|date=December 29, 2013|url=https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/2013/12/29/big-plans-for-former-psych-center-in-dover-many-questions/4234151/|title=Big plans for former psych center in Dover, many questions}}

Current ownership

In August 2013, Olivet Management LLC, a newly formed real estate development and management company, bought from the Long Island developer the Benjamin Companies 503 acres on the east side(approximately half the property) for $20 million, to be used as an upstate campus for Olivet University.{{cite news|work=Business Insider|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/17-chilling-photos-of-the-abandoned-upstate-new-york-asylum-that-will-soon-be-a-college-campus-2014-7|title=Chilling Photos Of An Abandoned Mental Asylum That's Being Turned Into An Evangelical College Campus|author=Jacobs, Harrison|date=July 14, 2014|access-date=May 11, 2018}}

Opinions on Olivet's purchase of the property were mixed: on one hand, Business Insider reported in 2014, "Wingdale residents are actually excited about the arrival of Olivet," expectant that "the college will draw new jobs and commerce to the town." On the other, David Allee, a photographer and former urban planner who captured pictures of the "massive campus with dozens of decayed buildings" before Olivet University refurbished the property, thought Olivet's plan to use the existing structures was a bad idea. He observed: "It's become a hazardous waste site. The buildings were so full of asbestos and mold that I'm shocked anybody thinks they could rehab them." In fact, in response to a complaint levied on October 23, 2013, OSHA fined Olivet Management $2.3 million for knowingly exposing workers to asbestos and lead during the renovation of the property and ultimately placed Olivet in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program.{{cite web|url=https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=25812|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430011628/https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=25812|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 30, 2017|website=OSHA.gov|access-date=April 30, 2017|date=April 2, 2014|title=Olivet Management faces $2.3M in OSHA fines for knowingly exposing workers to asbestos and lead at NY work site; Exposure occurred during renovation of former Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center|author=Press Release}} Additionally, multiple news outlets have cited several controversies about the school and its founder, David Jang.{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title=Amid Questions, Town Welcomes a New College|author=Berger, Joseph|date=October 4, 2013|access-date=May 10, 2018|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/nyregion/despite-questions-town-supports-new-evangelical-college.html}}{{cite news|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/september/david-jang-second-coming-christ.html|work=Christianity Today|title=INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: The Second Coming Christ Controversy|author1=Olsen, Ted |author2=Smith, Ken |date=August 16, 2012}} "David Jang has become an increasingly influential figure in Asian and now American evangelicalism. He and his followers have founded media outlets and a Christian college and are key influencers in the World Evangelical Alliance. But many say he leads a group that has encouraged the belief that he's the 'Second Coming Christ.' Is there any truth to the allegations?"

On October 27, 2015, Olivet University obtained from the New York State Education Department the right to open and operate an academic institution in Dover and in 2016 began offering courses at the new campus,{{cite news|work=Poughkeepsie Journal|date=November 4, 2015|author=Wilson, Geoffrey|title=Olivet to offer courses at Dover Plains property in 2016|url=https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2015/11/04/olivet-offer-courses-dover-plain-property-2016/75185578/}}{{cite web|title=New York State Authorizes Olivet University to Operate Courses in Dover|date=November 5, 2015|url=http://otcs.olivetuniversity.edu/news/view/1026/academics/index.html|website=Olivet University News}} dubbed "Olivet Center". The Metro-North station adjacent to the campus, formerly called "Harlem Valley-State Hospital", has been renamed "Harlem Valley-Wingdale".{{cite web|url=http://as0.mta.info/mnr/stations/station_detail.cfm?key=168|title=Harlem Valley-Wingdale|website=MTA.info|access-date=May 10, 2018}}

References

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