Libbey House Announces Fall Lecture Series:  100 Years of Disability History in Our Community

A Lecture Series in Honor of Tim Harrington, Executive Director, Ability Center of Toledo

The lecture series will honor the legacy of the Ability Center of Toledo, which celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2020, and the work of its long-time executive director, Tim Harrington.  Harrington has announced that he will be retiring by the end of 2021.

The Toledo State Hospital: A History

Lecture by Kim Brownlee, author of the recent book The Toledo State Hospital.  This lecture will examine the fascinating history of Toledo’s institution that helped those with mental illness.  Brownlee’s lecture is based on her new book, which was recently published by Arcadia Publishing in 2020.  The Toledo State Hospital served as a residential treatment facility for the mentally ill from 1888 until the early 1980s.  When it opened, the hospital was revolutionary as the first asylum in the country built using the “cottage model.”  Rather than one large facility, the Toledo State Hospital consisted of smaller buildings designed to look like homes.  Staff relied on “moral treatment” methods, a philosophy that believed calming surrounding and nutritious food, productive work, and diversion would help to cure.  At one time, the Toledo State Hospital housed more than 3000 residents. In the 1950s, the population began to decline, and as the buildings of the Toledo State Hospital emptied, they were demolished, and all were gone by 1981. Copies of Brownlee’s book will be available for sale following her talk.

The cost is FREE through a grant from the Ohio Humanities, in recognition of the 125th anniversary of the Libbey House. Space is limited to the first 30 people. Sign up soon to reserve your place.

All lectures will begin with a reception at 6:30 and lecture at 7 p.m. in the first floor parlor of the Libbey House, located in Toledo’s Historic Old West End at 2008 Scottwood.  Accessible parking for those requiring it is available at the rear of the house off Woodruff, and a ramp to the front of the house is located adjacent to the parking.