The Old Insane Asylum – Oakland Park
On many instances there have been wheelchairs moving from one end of the hall to another and you could see imprints of people that resided there and no one in the building. Many people have gone into this empty building and came out with sever mental disorders. The building is no longer standing but you can still see people that used to live there. – This was listed as “Thief River Falls – The Old Insane Asylum”- There never was an insane asylum in Thief River Falls. However, a resident of the town for many years, knows the building that is being referred to. It was formerly located in Oakland Park, the three-story brick building built in the late 1800s was a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients. It served that purpose until TB was eradicated in the 1950s. After that, the building was used as a nursing home until a new nursing home was built on the property in the late 70s early 80s. In the mid-1980s the building housed a dormitory for the local community college. The students that lived there were a little upset when the college failed to mention that the “dorm” was about six miles away from the college. Needless to say, the building was only used for a few years as a dorm. It stood empty from that time and was used for storage for the nursing home. It was torn down a few years ago. There is some interesting features on the building and its history. A tunnel was constructed that lead from the basement kitchen to the nurses’ quarters (a separate building on the premises) so that the staff could travel between the buildings without having to go outside in the winter.
