Bill spent nearly half century at state hospital

Bill Sackter spent nearly half a century at a state mental hospital in Minnesota. He was sent there as a seven year old child in the 1920s and remained there for 46 years.

Sackter, for whom Bill's Coffee Shop is named, was a resident at Faribault State Hospital, a giant institution with roots almost as old as the state of Minnesota. Minnesota became a state in 1858; the very first session of the state legislature authorized the establishment of centers for the "training and care of citizens who suffered mental and physical disabilities and for children who were unable to care for themselves."

The "state asylum" opened in 1863. It first was a residence for the "deaf, dumb and blind."

In 1879, an experimental program for "idioticand feeble-minded children" was added. Two years later, this became a permanent program under the name of "School for Idiots and Imbeciles." Later names for the center
included "Minnesota Institute for Defectives" and "School for the Feeble-
Minded."

In 1885, another program, the "State School for Neglected and Dependent Children," was added. It was located in the nearby community of Owatonna.

By the time Bill Sackter arrived at Faribault in the 1920s, there were hundreds of people living there from all over Minnesota. And the institution continued to grow during most of Bill's years there. By 1955,
there were more than 3,300 residents at Faribault.

Once sent there, few individuals ever left Faribault. After they died, they usually were buried in a cemetery on the state hospital grounds.

Minnesota was not alone in removing individuals with disabilities from mainstream society. Every other state had similar institutions -- and so did many other countries. These institutions were based on a philosophy that such segregation was a good idea.

An historical marker on I-35 in Minnesota explains that Faribault state hospital was "established to provide students with activities and training, while protecting them from the slights and rebuffs of the
outside world." (This marker is located at the Straight River rest stop between Albert Lea and Cannon Falls.)

There were always parents and others who doubted the wisdom of separating individuals with disabilities from their families and communities. But it was not until the late 1950s that their voices were loud enough to be heard in the halls of the legislatures and the meeting
rooms of professional societies.

By the 1960s, conventional professional wisdom shifted to support the idea of having individuals with disabilities stay in their communities. Counties stopped sending individuals to state hospitals. Then came a series of decisions to return to communities those who had been institutionalized.

Bill Sackter returned to Minneapolis in 1964 at age 50 He got a job working in the kitchen of the restaurant at the Minikahda Country Club. Later, he met Bev and Barry Morrow there; Bev was a waitress at the restaurant.

Hundreds of other men and women left Faribault in the 1960s and returned to Minneapolis and other communities around the state. (The same process was repeated in Iowa, South Dakota and other states.) Then in 1998, the state hospital at Faribault was closed for good.

For more on the history of Faribault state hospital, check these
websites:

http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/80881. html
(Minnesota Historical Society)

http://americanhistory.si.edu/disability rights/welcome.html (Smithsonian Institution)