Asylum Revisited Walking Tour

Back in May, I saw that the History Museum was offering a historical walk on the grounds of the old Outagamie County Asylum. It sounded really interesting. Stacy decided to come up and join me on the walk.

The last walk I signed up for was cancelled because of the weather. I was really hoping this wasn't going to be the case since it was calling to be windy with a chance of flurries. It turned a little wind and snow wasn't going to stop the curator but it did keep some people away.

The walk was interesting but I felt it could have been better. I'm not sure if that was due to the weather or not since it was cold and windy -- making it miserable to stand outside in an open field. Because the actual asylum is no longer standing, we mainly walked around the the fields of where the building stood. Nick, our tour guide, would explain about a portion of the asylum that used to be where we stood and occasionally showed us pictures.

The asylum housed the long term mentally ill who had no chance of being "cured" and released back into society. The asylum had an open door policy where the inmates could come and go as they pleased which would not fly in today's society. Although the actual quarters were not very pleasant, most of the inmates had to help around the asylum either working on the county farm or in the kitchen. Some even took care of other inmates especially since at time they had very few paid employees since working conditions weren't very favorable.

After we walked the grounds of the old asylum, we walked down to the Outagamie County Cemetery where several of the inmates of the asylum was buried. Many of the inmates would be buried back in their home towns but if they had no family left, they would be buried in the plot behind the asylum. Since the graves weren't marked, it made it difficult to find where the actual bodies were buried. However, a group of people from the Outagmie County Cemetery Commission (or something like that) with the help of a Lawrence University Professor and his class, they were able to locate the graves and turn a piece of overgrown land into a proper cemetery.

Despite not actually being able to see the asylum, it was still very interesting to hear how an asylum operated. We were told the History Museum at the Castle just started an exhibit on the Outagmie County Asylum and we should go check it out. If I knew about the exhibit beforehand, Stacy and I might have made plans to check out it. Since the exhibit is open for a while, I may go check it out sometime.

There are several other History Walks around Appleton I'd like to do and hopefully they continue them next year. Since they only cost about $7, it is fun way to learn about the area and get my exercise as well.