The Cardinal Cottage is renovated and preserved.

The Baldwin Cottage is demolished.

The Fernald Center closes its doors on November 13, 2014. Next year, the cottage complex and support buildings in the northwestern corner of the campus are razed, as well as the Malone Park cottages.

Malone Park was the last addition to the school, and comprised four small residences on the western edge of the campus. Residents here were capable of independent living, while also having access to Fernald's resources if needed.

Site 5 is built for Day Program use, including paper shredding and crayon making.

Site 7 is added to the Woodside building, also used for day program activities.

Parkman replaces the old food service building; the latter was mothballed and used for storage. Parkman is the last addition to the central campus.

The Woodside Building is constructed for day program use.

The Brookside Building is constructed in the same fashion as Woodside.

Cottages 3 and 4 are added to the residential complex at Fernald.

Former wetlands were drained to become a new campus of one-story cottages and support buildings. Cottages 5-13 were constructed first.

A small shed is built at Fernald's southern entrance, which sold seeds, plants and flowers grown at the greenhouse, as well as crafts made by the children. Here at Greenhouse Sales, Fernald residents learned how to operate a cash register and acquire job experience.

A high-rise dormitory for Fernald residents is built atop Owl Hill, named Kelley Hall. It was named after Dr. Lawrence Kelley, a physician at the institution.

Residents were moved out of the aging and dilapidated Boys' Home and into the newly built Kelley Hall. The Boy's Home was demolished.

The Withington Rehabilitation Center is erected near the site of the demolished Boy's Home. This modern building was named after Dr. Paul Withington, a trustee of the Fernald center in the 1950s. The building was later known as the Tufts Dental Clinic.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center opens after years of delays. It was named after Mrs. Shriver, founder and chairperson of the Special Olympics and sister of president John F. Kennedy.

The Administration Building receives a flat-roofed, two-story wing on its northern side.

A new Training Activity Center is built to replace the aging Activity Center from 1891, though the old structure was not demolished.

An outdoor pool is built.

The Manual Training Building gets a new addition to its southeast wing.

The Catholic chapel is constructed, gifted from the Arch-diocese of Boston through the charity of Cardinal Richard Cushing. In the 1970s it was re-named Chapel of the Holy Innocents and opened its doors to Protestant and Jewish services.

The expansive Farrell Hall is constructed. It was named after Dr. Malcolm J. Farrell, who became superintendent of the Fernald Center in 1945.

Greene Unit, the largest building at Fernald, is constructed. It primarily served the blind and the least ambulatory residents and was named after Dr. Ransom Greene, superintendent of the school from 1925 to 1945.

The Thom Hospital is built to care for those with serious medical conditions. It would later care for the last remaining residents at Fernald, and was later known as the Marquardt Nursing Center. It was named after Father Henry Marquardt, a priest who worked at Fernald starting in 1973.

A greenhouse is established on the southern campus, across the street from the power plant. It was used for seed propagation for the school's farm and gardens.

A new administration building in Colonial Revival style replaces Waverley Hall, which was re-purposed into employee housing. This development of the central campus forms the straight boulevard which ran to Trapelo Road, a notable shift from the elegant winding roadways of years past to a more utilitarian plan.

Wallace Hall is constructed at a cost of $300,000, and could accommodate 138 patients. It has the same layout as Seguin Hall, and was named after Dr. George L. Wallace of Wrentham, who was the First Assistant Physician for a long time under Dr. Fernald.

Seguin Hall, a new infirmary, is constructed at a cost of $148,000 and able to accommodate 116 patients. It is named after Dr. Édouard Séguin (1812-1880), a French-born American psychiatrist who pioneered modern educational methods for teaching the severely intellectually disabled. He was also a major influence on Dr. Howe's methods of training the disabled.

Tarbell Hall, a dormitory for employees, is constructed. It is named after Dr. Tarbell, who was Assistant Superintendent from 1878-1883. It would later be referred to as Sandra's Lodge when it was converted into public housing in the 1980s.

Wheatley Hall, a new nursery building, is built in the far western corner of the central campus. It cared for the youngest class of patients, some no older than newborn babies. The building would be used as a furniture repair shop in later years.

A badly needed auditorium and theater space was opened as Howe Hall. The spacious building eliminated the overcrowding in the old gymnasium, especially on Sundays, due to multiple religious services of different denominations.

The food service building is greatly expanded in response to the school's increasing population.

A new Food Service Building is constructed with a large dining hall, a fully equipped bakery and kitchens, which helped prepare the hundreds of daily meals conforming to the specific dietary needs of the children.

Maintenance buildings are constructed to house shops for carpentry, painting, tools, plumbing and mechanical work.

A new laundry building provides efficient cleaning of the daily load of sheets, towels, and clothes from residents and attendants. It would later be used as a Therapeutic Equipment Center.

A new wing is added to the North Nurses, relieving congestion in the building and providing rooms for employees who were living off-campus at the school's expense.

Four Craftsman cottages for staff members are built; #19 and #20 were situated along Chapel Rd. near the back entrance of the Fernald campus, while #17 and #18 were slightly inset.

Additions to the school building were constructed around this time, creating more classrooms.

A new power plant replaces the boilers in Belmont and Storeroom, which had fallen into disrepair during World War I. It was built at a cost of $185,000 and connected to various buildings with underground steam tunnels.

A new recreation center for visitors and employees was built in the center of the campus. The basement rooms would be later re-purposed as the Southard Research Lab and the upper floors became the Howe Library around 1921, named after Samuel Gridley Howe, the founder of the school.

The U-shaped Lavers Hall is constructed. It was initially used as an infirmary for male patients, and later for custodial cases.

A new wing is added to South Nurses Home, as living quarters for employees were much needed.

South Nurses Home, the last of the four nurses residences, is constructed.

East Dowling, originally known as the East Building, is constructed as a dormitory, forming the beginnings of a central campus.

Appearing on old maps as "New North West Building", this dormitory building for girls was later named Dolan Hall in memory of Mrs. Dolan, a longtime matron at the school. It was constructed in almost exactly the same fashion as MacDougall Hall.

A building called the Girls Home was erected, which catered to the older female residents. It was later known as Warren Hall.

East Nurses Home is built.

West Nurses Home is also constructed, built in the same fashion as East Nurses.

New wings are added to MacDougall Hall (for girls) and East Dowling (for boys) for "special cases,"" referring to children who posed a harm to themselves or others. They could now be secluded in single rooms fitted with additional safety measures.

The North Nurses Home is constructed. It was the first of four residences for the nurses employed by the school and primarly housed those working in the nearby dormitories for boys.

A Queene-Anne style home for the superintendent is completed on the north end, called Hillside Cottage.

The Manual Training Building is built across the street from the school, where higher-functioning residents learned how to mend, sew, weave, and paint.

The barn was struck by lightning and burned to the ground, requiring the building of a new cow barn, grain silo, milking house, stables and other similar structures for the school's farm.

The North West Building is built to accommodate girls who have grown up into adult women. It was later named MacDougall Hall in honor of Sarah MacDougall, matron of the farm house during World War I.

The school is faced with the problem of its children growing up into adult men who have not left the institution. The North Building is built to accommodate these cases to better separate residents by age.

A sterilizing building was constructed near the infirmary in response to a Scarlet Fever epidemic in 1896, which killed three children at the hospital.

An infirmary for contagious patients is constructed on the southern end of the campus; the detached building allowed patients to be quarantined and prevent the spread of sickness. It would be later known as Stephen Bowen Hall, and was last used as a music therapy building.

The Boys' Dormitory (Activity Center) gets a one-story addition to be used as a coat and wash room for the many boys who work the farm during the day.

A second wing is added to the Infirmary Building, containing a kitchen. This helped prevent the spread of disease via food delivery from other buildings and further isolate its patients.

A third and final wing is added to the Infirmary Building.

The Girls Dormitory is constructed; its layout would serve as a model for additional dormitories built in the next few decades. The building was later named Chipman Hall in honor of Catherine Chipman, resident psychologist during the 1930s.

The Boys' Home is constructed for higher-functioning and older male residents.

Additions to Waverley Hall are made, which include single sleeping rooms, a home-like sitting room, store rooms, a smoking and reading room and two dining halls, all for use by the school's nurses and officers.

The institution begins to form an eastern campus with the addition of the School and Gymnasium building. It was located about 500 yards from the West Building and across a ravine; this separation was intentionally created to clearly define the custodial cases from those who could be trained at the school and rehabilitated. The gymnasium provided an area for various physical therapies such as Ling Gymnastics, which was attached to the schoolhouse that provided classrooms for higher-functioning students.

A new administration building provides much-needed offices for staff, paperwork, and treasury; this structure would later be known as Waverley Hall.

A dormitory for boys was built, which would later become the Activity Center.

A new boilerhouse and laundry was constructed to service this new cluster of buildings. It would later be used as a Storeroom.

A 20x30' dining room was added to the West Building's kitchen wing, with 4 employee sleeping rooms on the second floor.

Several farm buildings are razed sometime after 1950. Other structures, such as the stables, milking house and slaughterhouse are re-purposed into garages and storage areas for the grounds department.

The Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded is established with the construction of the Asylum, later known as the West Building. The E-shaped floor plan is based on New York's Willard Asylum, the first institution built specifically for custodial care of the incurable insane.

A boilerhouse was built behind the asylum, providing steam heat and hot water. It would later be renovated into housing and known as Belmont House, named after Dr. Elizabeth Belmont, former assistant superintendent at Fernald.

The first buildings owned by the Fernald Center were a barn and a farm house, which had existed on the property when it was purchased in 1887. The farm house was converted into a residence for 20-30 male patients who worked to clear the land, build roads and perform much of the hard labor needed for the asylum building. This area of the campus would remain dedicated to the school's farm until these operations ceased, transitioning to grounds maintenance and equipment storage.

The Italianate-style Baldwin Cottage is constructed as a family dwelling. It predates the establishment of the Fernald School by 29 years; much like the Trapelo Cottage, it was last used by the school as a day care facility.

A dwelling called Trapelo Cottage is built. It predates the establishment of the school by 30 years; it was last used by the school as a day care facility.

A Greek-Revival home called Cardinal Cottage is built along Trapelo Road, and is the oldest structure at the Fernald site. It predates the establishment of the school by 39 years.

This interactive map visualizes changes to the Fernald campus throughout the decades. The footprints of the hospital's contributing buldings have been superimposed on a recent satellite image of the property. These dashed outlines will turn solid once a building has been constructed, or outlined in red when it has been demolished.

Drag the slider above or use the next/previous buttons to step forward or backward through time. You can zoom/pan the map to the left at any time. You may also click on a building to identify it, and view important dates surrounding that structure.