ILLINOIS - The Lincoln Developmental Center -From Asylum to Prison

 The Lincoln Developmental Center was a state school for people with developmental disabilities in Lincoln, Illinois. It was founded in 1877 as the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children, became the Lincoln State School in 1954, and adopted its final name in 1975.  Lincoln is home to two prisons. It is also the home of the world's largest covered wagon and numerous other historical sites along the Route 66 corridor. Location of Lincoln in Logan County, Illinois. The population was 13,288 at the 2020 census. 

According to historian David Bakke, "conditions at the Lincoln State School were horrible; overcrowded and understaffed. It was a community unto itself. The deaths of residents were not investigated, and their bodies were buried on the grounds". According to Edwin Black, author of War Against the Weak, milk from cows diseased with tuberculosis were willingly fed to the patient/residents.